Latvia's most important intelligence service, the Constitutional Protection Office (SAB), has identified China and Russia as the main cyber threats against NATO and the European Union.
The 2019 SAB report focused mainly on the threat from the Russian Federation. According to the report, Russia is funding expert groups and "pseudo-academic organizations" to counter the legitimacy of the states of Latvia and other Baltic states.
However, reference has also been made to China's growing influence and attacks, which has been cited as a growing threat from cyber espionage. China was not mentioned in the 2017 report, while in 2018 the document mentioned Beijing's cyber operations aimed at obtaining data, mainly through economic intelligence.
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According to the 2019 report, the number of cyber attacks from China is increasing and poses a serious problem for the security and economic interests of Latvia and other western countries.
The document says that in the past five years, China has invested heavily in its cyber activities and that hacker groups controlled by Chinese secret services have improved their technical tools. He also said that Chinese cyber attacks were perpetrated against public institutions, private companies, the academic community, government institutions, the military and defense sector, as well as NGOs.
Report suggests avoiding products and services from countries running offensive cyber programs against NATO and EU members, such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
The Beijing Embassy in Latvia rejected the report as "unfounded and irresponsible", adding that "unjustified speculation and stigma are not desirable".