The EU member states and the United States on Monday blamed China for a large-scale hacker attack that was exposed in early March.
As Microsoft announced at the time, the attackers exploited vulnerabilities on the Microsoft Exchange Server, which is used to exchange e-mails.
You could have installed malicious programs in order to gain long-term access to other computers and networks.
"The compromise and exploitation of the Microsoft Exchange Server has undermined the security and integrity of thousands of computers and networks worldwide," said a statement made on behalf of the member states by EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell.
The attacks have continued to the present.
“This irresponsible and harmful behavior has led to security risks and significant economic losses for our government institutions and private companies.” Further targeted cyber attacks from China have also been discovered.
Washington wants to expose Chinese tactics
Meanwhile, a high-ranking government official in Washington stated that Beijing's behavior was incompatible with China's claim to assume a responsible global leadership role. She announced that the USA, the EU, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and NATO would jointly denounce China's “malicious cyber activities” on Monday. Also on Monday, American security agencies such as the Federal Police FBI would "disclose more than 50 tactics, techniques and procedures that state-sponsored Chinese hackers use in attacks on networks in the USA and on allies."
The EU states attribute the crimes to two groups of hackers who "operate from Chinese soil to steal and spy on intellectual property". They are identified as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 40, also known as "Periscope Group", and APT 31, also known as "Zirconium". This last group is said to have attacked employees of the two candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden in June of last year during the American presidential election campaign, but without success. Microsoft had already attributed the attack on its server to Chinese hackers. The software manufacturer called the group "Hafnium" and came to the conclusion that they not only operate from China, but also receive support from government agencies.
The EU states do not comment on this, and a spokeswoman for Borrell did not want to do that either. However, they call on the Chinese authorities to adhere to recognized UN standards and "to take all necessary and reasonable measures to investigate, investigate and react to the situation". The spokeswoman said broadly that "there has been considerable damage to our economy, security, democracy and society as a whole". She left it open whether this would lead to further sanctions against China. The EU has created its own mechanism for this and has already imposed punitive measures against China and Russia, including for an attack on the Bundestag. However, this requires evidence that can be used in a court of law.