This Tuesday, China rejected accusations by the US, UK and New Zealand that it was behind cyber attacks against its public institutions. Beijing said it had strongly objected to the parties involved.
Chinese authorities will “strongly oppose the US and relevant parties and take all necessary measures to protect their legitimate rights and interests,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Lin Jian, quoted by Lusa Agency, alleged that “the United States has joined the United Kingdom to make fun of so-called Chinese computer attacks.”
In rare public and detailed accusations pointing the finger at Beijing, the governments of Washington, London and Wellington have condemned a series of cyber attacks in recent years.
The US Department of Justice has charged several Chinese nationals with a 14-year-long “global computer hacking operation” aimed at contributing to Beijing's “economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives”.
The operation involved sending more than 10,000 emails to companies, politicians, election candidates and journalists working in the United States and abroad.
According to US Attorney General Lisa Monaco, a group called APT31 is behind this “cyber espionage program,” which is allegedly run from the central city of Wuhan by China’s powerful Ministry of State Security.
Hackers gained access to “email accounts, cloud storage accounts and phone call logs”.
The British Deputy Prime Minister told the British Parliament that “actors aligned with the Chinese state” carried out “two malicious cyber attacks” in 2020 and 2021.
“This is the latest in a series of hostile actions by China, including attacks on democratic and parliamentary institutions in the UK and elsewhere,” said Oliver Dowden.
The government official condemned cyber attacks against delegates critical of Beijing and the UK Electoral Commission. The attack on the Election Commission allowed access to servers containing copies of election records containing data on 40 million voters.
The United Kingdom is due to hold general elections in a few months, but, according to Dowden, this cyber attack will have no impact on the next elections.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK would do “everything necessary” to guarantee its security in the face of a “historic challenge” posed by an “increasingly assertive” China.
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