US, UK unveil sanctions against Chinese state-backed hackers for alleged malicious attacks | Technology

Hackers backed by the Chinese government's spy agency have been accused by the US and UK of carrying out a years-long campaign of cyberattacks, targeting politicians, journalists and businesses .

According to the United States, the operation saw political dissidents and critics of China targeted in sophisticated phishing campaigns, which compromised some email systems and networks.

The US government announced sanctions on Monday against hackers it accuses of being responsible for exploiting this system. Two individuals and a front company linked to the APT31 cyberespionage group, associated with China's Ministry of State Security, have been sanctioned by the UK.

On Tuesday, the New Zealand government said it had also raised concerns with the Chinese government over its involvement in an attack that targeted the country's parliamentary entities in 2021.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said it has sanctioned Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company Ltd, which it considers a front for China's Ministry of State Security that has served as a cover for multiple malicious cyber operations.

In press releases and unsealed indictments, the U.S. government has accused China of perpetrating an elaborate and invasive state-sponsored hacking program that dates back more than a decade. Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, called the hacking operation evidence of the goals the Chinese government is willing to go to in targeting and intimidating its critics.

The Treasury office named two Chinese nationals, Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, affiliated with the Wuhan company, for cyber operations targeting U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including defense, aerospace and energy. It also listed these threats as part of the APT 31 cyberhacking group, which stands for advanced persistent threat and includes contracted hackers and state-sponsored intelligence agents.

APT 31 targeted a broad range of senior U.S. government officials and their advisors integral to U.S. national security, the department said in a news release.

The U.S. Department of Justice charged Zhao, Ni and five other hackers with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud. The agency said it was part of a 14-year cyber operation targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses and political leaders.

Today's announcements underscore the need to remain vigilant against cybersecurity threats and the potential for cybersecurity-enabled malicious foreign influence efforts, particularly as the 2024 election cycle approaches, said Matthew G Olsen, deputy attorney general.

The hacking campaign involved sending more than 10,000 malicious emails containing hidden tracking links that allowed APT 31 to access information about their targets, including locations and IP addresses. The emails targeted government officials around the world who were critical of China policies, including White House staff and campaign workers from both major parties, according to the Justice Department.

British authorities also add sanctions

British officials said those sanctioned by the country were responsible for a hack that could have given access to information on tens of millions of British voters held by the Electoral Commission, as well as cyber espionage targeting lawmakers who have openly spoken about threats from China. .

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the hacking of electoral lists did not impact electoral processes, did not affect anyone's rights or access to the democratic process, nor did it affect the electoral registration.

The Electoral Commission said in August that it had identified a flaw in its system in October 2022, while adding that hostile actors had been able to access its servers for the first time in 2021.

At the time, the watchdog said the data included the names and addresses of registered voters. But he said much of the information was already in the public domain.

British authorities have not named the company or the two individuals. But they claimed that the two sanctioned individuals were involved in the operations of the Chinese cyber group APT 31. This group is also known as Zirconium or Hurricane Panda.

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APT 31 has already been accused of targeting, among other things, American presidential campaigns and the information systems of the Finnish parliament.

British cybersecurity officials said hackers affiliated with the Chinese government carried out reconnaissance against British parliamentarians who were critical of Beijing in 2021. They said no parliamentary accounts had been successfully compromised.

Three lawmakers, including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, told reporters on Monday that they have been victims of harassment, identity theft and hacking attempts from China for some time. Duncan Smith said in one example, hackers posing as him used fake email addresses to write to his contacts.

The politicians are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international lobby group aimed at countering Beijing's growing influence and exposing alleged human rights abuses by the Chinese government. .

Oliver Dowden, Britain's deputy prime minister, said his government would hold the Chinese ambassador to account for his actions.

China's Foreign Ministry said ahead of the announcement that countries should base their claims on evidence rather than smear others without factual basis.

Cybersecurity issues should not be politicized, ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said. We hope all parties will stop spreading false information, adopt a responsible attitude and work together to maintain peace and security in cyberspace.

Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, has reiterated that China is behaving increasingly authoritarian abroad and poses the greatest state threat to our economic security.

It is right that we take steps to protect ourselves, and that is what we are doing, he said, without providing details.

China critics, including Duncan Smith, have long called for Sunak to take a tougher stance on China and label the country a threat rather than a challenge to the UK, but the government has refrained from using such critical language.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/25/us-sanctions-chinese-hackers The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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