China denies hacking Microsoft, berates US allies
The United States accuses China of cyberattacks against Microsoft, July 19, 2021. AFP - NOEL CELIS
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Chinese hackers pointed out again.
On Monday, July 19, the United States and its allies condemned China for alleged "
malicious
"
cyber activities
, including the Microsoft email hack that has affected tens of thousands of computers around the world.
This is not the first time that the Chinese regime has been accused by the White House of protecting or even “
sponsoring
” such attacks.
In response, Beijing strongly denounced this Tuesday, July 20 accusations "
unfounded
", accusing Washington of itself "
the champion of the world
" of cyberattacks.
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With our correspondent in Beijing,
Stéphane Lagarde
It is from the tropical island of Hainan, invaded summer and winter by tourists, that the Chinese hackers have launched their attacks, indicates the US State Department.
According to the Department of Justice in the United States, the four Chinese nationals indicted managed a network of hackers acting through front companies, one of which - Hainan Xiandun Technology Development -, now disbanded, would have worked with the department of the Security of this Chinese province in the south-east of China.
Front companies and virtual private servers
One way to keep cyberespionage activities away from Beijing and reduce suspicion. The attacks began in January and were
revealed in March
by Microsoft. Twelve
countries were targeted
. Theft of industrial secrets (autonomous vehicles, aeronautics, genetic sequencing) and commercial information allowing to conquer markets (infrastructure projects, high-speed train line): since 2013 and the discovery of "unit 61398", the United States and its allies regularly accuse the Chinese regime of protecting and even sponsoring its hackers.
This unit of Chinese hackers operating from a base of the People's Liberation Army in Shanghai that has long served as a scarecrow, has since been replaced by even more discreet actors hiding behind shell companies and virtual private servers (VPS ) allowing more and more sophisticated indirect attacks.
Revealed in 2014, the offensive called "Axiom" would have targeted
companies like Google, but also States, NGOs
.
In September 2020, the group nicknamed APT41 targeted sectors as diverse as
video games, health, technology and education
.
Large-scale cybersurveillance
This large-scale cyber surveillance is being developed nationally by the Chinese Ministry of State Security. In China, many journalists, lawyers, human rights activists did not wait for the
“Pegasus” software
to look at their cell phones differently.
But concerning the foreigner, the accusations of cyberespionage have always been denied by Beijing.
"
The Chinese government never engages in cyberattack or cyber theft activities,
" the Chinese Embassy in the United States replied on Monday, referring as always the accusation to "
American agencies
" which, according to Chinese diplomacy, are "
engaged in cyber intrusion and cyber surveillance activities, including against their allies
."
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