Washington, London and Wellington accuse Beijing of cyberattacks against their institutions

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ANNETTE RIEDL / DPA / DPA PICTURE-ALLIANCE VIA AFP 8:05 a.m., March 26, 2024

In rare public and detailed accusations pointing to Beijing, the three governments denounced a series of cyberattacks. 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".

The American, British and New Zealand governments have accused the Chinese state of being behind several cyberattacks against their political institutions, triggering an outraged reaction from Beijing on Tuesday. In rare, detailed public accusations pointing to Beijing, the three governments denounced a series of cyberattacks in recent years, in an apparently concerted move to hold China accountable.

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Seven Chinese indicted

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 based 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. The hackers had access to "email accounts, cloud storage accounts (cloud, editor's note) and telephone call recordings", declared the US Department of Justice.

“Historical challenge”

Shortly after, British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden came to announce before Parliament in London that “actors affiliated with the Chinese state” had committed “two malicious cyber actions” in 2020 and 2021. He denounced cyberattacks against parliamentarians criticism 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. According to Oliver Dowden, these “attempts to interfere in the democracy of the United Kingdom have not succeeded” and will not have an impact on the next elections. But the Chinese ambassador will be summoned, he said, and 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.

They are Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, both members of the APT31 organization, also sanctioned by the United States. Wanting to be reassuring, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that the United Kingdom would do "what is necessary" to ensure its security and protect itself in the face of the "historic challenge" posed by an "increasingly assertive" China.

Slander

In response, the Chinese embassy in Great Britain denounced “totally unfounded” and “slander” accusations. In a coordinated announcement, Wellington accused a group linked to Beijing of having hacked in 2021 the computer system of the Parliament 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 defense minister says Judith Collins, in a press release published Tuesday. The attack was repelled and the group was incapacitated, she assured.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon admitted to the press that attributing the cyber attack 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.

“Strong discontent”

The Chinese embassy in Wellington, for its part, “categorically rejected these baseless and irresponsible accusations”, expressing its “deep dissatisfaction”. 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.

Russia and China have both been accused of using dedicated front companies to carry out cyberattacks, making attribution more difficult. In September 2023, Rishi Sunak had already denounced to his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang "interference" from Beijing in Parliament in Westminster, after the revelation of two arrests for espionage that had occurred six months previously. The United States, the United Kingdom, as well as New Zealand, Australia and Canada, are part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network.