These are very rare accusations and public revelations from several world capitals. The American, British and New Zealand governments pointed out, this Tuesday, March 26, a series of cyberattacks against their institutions in recent years. And all point to China. The US Department of Justice announced that it had indicted seven Chinese people for a “prolific global hacking operation” over 14 years aimed at contributing to Beijing’s “economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives”.
This operation required the sending of more than 10,000 emails targeting companies, politicians, electoral candidates and journalists working in the United States and abroad, Deputy Justice Minister Lisa Monaco said on Monday.
According to Washington, a group called APT31 is at the origin of this “cyber espionage program” which would have been managed by the powerful Chinese Ministry of State Security from the city of Wuhan (center). The hackers had access to “email accounts, cloud storage accounts (cloud, editor’s note) and telephone call recordings”, declared the US Department of Justice.
“China’s Hostile Activities”
Shortly after, British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden announced in front of parliament in London that “actors affiliated with the Chinese state” had committed “two malicious cyber actions” in 2020 and 2021. He denounced cyberattacks against critical parliamentarians of Beijing and against the United Kingdom Electoral Commission.
“This is the latest in a series of hostile activities by China, which includes targeting democratic institutions and parliamentarians in the United Kingdom and other countries,” he said at the time. that London must hold legislative elections in a few months. The attack on the Electoral Commission allowed access to servers containing copies of electoral registers with the data of 40 million voters, according to British media.
Beijing denies being behind the attacks
The United Kingdom has announced that it will summon the Chinese ambassador, while two individuals and their organization will also be subject to sanctions for their “involvement in malicious cyber activities”, in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world. In response, the Chinese embassy in Great Britain denounced the accusations as “totally unfounded” and “slander”.
China also rejected the accusations of the American, British and New Zealand governments on Tuesday, and said it had “strongly protested to the United States and relevant parties”. Beijing “will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” added Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Washington “joined forces with the United Kingdom to highlight these so-called Chinese cyberattacks,” he denounced.
In a coordinated announcement, Wellington also accused a group linked to Beijing of having hacked in 2021 the computer system of the parliamentary office responsible for developing and publishing laws. New Zealand’s cybersecurity agency has linked a Chinese “state-backed” group known as “APT40” to a cyberattack on parliamentary services, the country’s minister said on Tuesday. Defense Judith Collins.
Deterioration of relationships
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon admitted to the press that attributing the cyberattack to China was an “important step”, likely to cast a chill on good relations with the country’s main trading partner. Wellington expressed his protests to the Chinese ambassador in the country, said the head of New Zealand diplomacy, Winston Peters.
In recent years, Western countries have become increasingly willing to denounce malicious cyber operations and point the finger at foreign governments, particularly China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
In September 2023, Richie Sunak had already denounced to his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang “interference” from Beijing in the Westminster parliament, after the revelation of two arrests for espionage that occurred six months earlier. The United States, the United Kingdom as well as New Zealand, Australia and Canada are part of the Five Eyes intelligence exchange network.