China’s Xinhua News Agency claims cyberattacks also targeted Ukraine and Belarus
Hackers operating predominantly from American soil have been taking control of computers in China, using them to carry out cyberattacks against targets in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.
The news outlet claims that China’s internet authority began detecting such malicious activity in late February. According to the report, the country’s internet has been under “Permanent” attack from abroad ever since.
According to officials, the news agency revealed that most cyberattacks were traced back in the US with only 10 addresses located in New York State. Attacks on Chinese computers also came from Germany, Netherlands and other countries.
China is the primary target for 87% of cyberattacks that were carried out through computers in China, according to Chinese media.
The article reassured readers that China’s internet authority has been responding to cyber breaches “To the greatest extent possible and as quickly as possible.”
Since Russia launched its military campaign against Ukraine on February 24, the country’s government websites as well as those belonging to some major commercial banks, companies and media, including RT, have been the target of multiple cyberattacks.
In late February, Anonymous, an international group of hackers, declared a cyber war on Vladimir Putin’s government.
US media published reports Tuesday claiming that unnamed Chinese government-backed hackers had attacked half of the US’s local government agencies over the past ten months. Reports citing American cybersecurity firm Mandiant alleged the Chinese hackers’ prime objective was information-gathering.
CNN also claimed that an advisory by the FBI and US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to state governments had supposedly named “Health, transport, labor, (includes unemployment benefit system), higher education and agriculture, as well as court networks and other systems” among the areas targeted.
Commenting on the reports, China’s embassy in Washington, DC, insisted that Beijing “Strongly oppose[s] Combat[s] Cyberattacks of all kinds” dismissing the allegations of China’s involvement in the breaches as “groundless.”
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