THREAT OPS › Threat News › Critical minerals and cyber operations
Critical minerals and cyber operations
<h2>Summary</h2> <p>Critical elements and rare earth elements REEs are no longer commodities; they are <strong>strategic dependencies.</strong> Chinaʼs dominance in processing and refining provides it with enormous geopolitical leverage over other industrialized economies.</p> <p>Geopolitical competition over mining and refining critical elements and REEs is accelerating. <strong>C
Attributed threat actors
- Ke3changG0004
MITRE ATT&CK techniques
Indicators of compromise
- 4c012d70ad172f12d9e3aca24508e766md5
- https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/rare-earths-statistics-and-informationurl
- https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-are-industry-4-0-the-fourth-industrial-revolution-and-4irurl
- https://www.usgs.gov/news/science-snippet/interior-department-releases-final-2025-list-critical-mineralsurl
- https://www.wri.org/insights/critical-minerals-explainedurl
- https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/04/seabed-china-russia-unclos/#cookie_message_anchorurl
- https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105507url
- https://discoveryalert.com.au/seabed-mining-2026-implications-underwater-technologies/url
- https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/01/23/the-arctic-climate-changes-great-economic-opportunityurl
- https://www.economist.com/europe/2021/11/27/riches-lie-below-the-waters-of-russias-arcticurl
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9230yw15ourl
- https://www.ft.com/content/efe3f385-7c7a-4a75-8dd3-ee245019d794url
- http://telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/01/10/trumps-plan-to-make-greenlanders-an-offer-they-cant-refuse/url
- https://discoveringantarctica.org.uk/challenges/sustainability/future-of-antarctica/url
- https://www.csis.org/analysis/what-can-united-states-do-counter-growing-chinese-and-russian-influence-antarcticaurl
- https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/19/antarctica-south-pole-china-russia-resources-geopolitics-treaty-security/url
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20250320-how-close-are-we-really-to-mining-asteroidsurl
- https://www.wired.com/story/china-us-moon-race-trump-losing/url
- https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/resource-realism-the-geopolitics-of-critical-mineral-supply-chainsurl
- https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/10/23/china-is-using-americas-own-trade-weapons-to-beat-iturl
- https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/04/us-china-trade-war-exports-00440019url
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cql2x6d2zkgourl
- https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/online-analysis/2026/01/us-critical-minerals-diplomacy-from-america-first-deals-to-pax-silica/url
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-china-pentagon-oklahoma-howard-lutnick-b2907759.htmlurl
- https://apnews.com/article/usa-rare-earth-trump-commerce-4c012d70ad172f12d9e3aca24508e766url
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230208082223/https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/chinese-miners-chengxin-zangge-hold-onto-canadian-lithium-assets-despite-exit-orderurl
- https://www.fdiintelligence.com/content/1f4c378e-e103-51a8-828f-12eeaa8a7073url
- https://natoassociation.ca/beneath-the-surface-chinas-deep-sea-diplomacy-in-the-pacific-ocean/url
- https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/chinas-investment-in-indonesia-is-its-global-critical-minerals-template/url
- https://www.eria.org/news-and-views/indonesia-s-critical-minerals-moment--turning-resource-wealth-into-rules-based-prosperityurl
- https://therecord.media/hackers-pose-kyrgyz-officials-russia-cyber-espionageurl
- https://therecord.media/kazakhstan-hackers-target-governments-commonwealth-of-independent-states-yorotrooper-ciscourl
- https://www.scworld.com/brief/data-breach-confirmed-by-northern-minerals-after-bianlian-leakurl
- https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2025/03/24/a-visual-guide-to-critical-materials-and-rare-earthsurl
- www.oxfordenergy.orgdomain