US offers millionaire reward to catch hackers 0:50
Washington (CNN) - The
United States and its foreign allies accused China on Monday of overseeing widespread attempts to extort money in cyberspace, including through
ransomware
attacks
, a dramatic escalation in the government's increasingly urgent attempt to Biden to prevent further transgressions.
In a coordinated announcement, the White House and the governments of Europe and Asia will identify the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the expanding and secretive civilian intelligence agency, with the use of "criminal hackers" to carry out a series of destabilizing activities around the world for personal gain, according to a senior US administration official.
The administration official also said that China was behind a
specific
ransomware
attack
against a US target that involved a "large ransom demand", adding that Chinese ransom demands have been "millions of dollars".
The public disclosure of Chinese efforts amounts to a new front in an ongoing offensive by the Biden administration to combat cyber threats that have exposed serious vulnerabilities in major US sectors, including energy and food production.
The extent of Chinese involvement in hiring criminal networks to invade and extort money around the world came as a surprise to the White House, officials said.
What are ransomware attacks and why are they so dangerous for digital security?
"What we found really surprising and new here was the use of hired hackers to carry out this unauthorized cyber operation and really criminal activity for financial gain. That was really revealing and surprising to us," said a senior official from the administration on the Sunday before the announcement.
However, while US officials have expressed concern to the Chinese about the behavior, the United States is pausing to apply a new punishment to Beijing as part of Monday's announcement.
The official said the United States "does not rule out further action to hold [China] accountable."
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So far, much of the White House's public efforts have focused on Russia, including imposing new sanctions and warning more should Moscow fail to control criminal networks conducting
ransomware
attacks
from within the country. .
However, unlike many of the attacks emanating from Russia, China's attempts to extort money or demand ransoms have closer ties with the government, according to administration officials.
Putin tells CNN that Russia will work to prevent cyberattacks and that it has reached agreements with the US.
Those activities include "cyber extortion, crypto kidnapping and robbery of victims around the world for financial gain," said one official, along with
ransomware
attacks
on companies demanding millions of dollars.
The official said that at least one US company had been the subject of a "large" ransom by hackers working in association with the Chinese intelligence service, but declined to provide further details.
The attack "really raised concerns about the behavior and, frankly, about the fact that it was carried out by people related to the Chinese Ministry of State Security," the official said.
Governments also plan to formally attribute with "high confidence" the massive attack in March of Microsoft's e-mail service Exchange to criminal hackers supported by the Chinese intelligence service.
Microsoft publicly linked the attack on its email service to China in March.
It said four vulnerabilities in its
software
allowed hackers to access the servers of the popular email and calendar service, and both the company and the White House advised users to immediately update their local systems with
software
fixes
.
Microsoft's latest security flaw could have serious repercussions
The official said the US government wanted to make sure it had great confidence in its assessment before formally attributing the attack to China.
But officials also wanted to combine the announcement with details of other China's activities, along with information such as
malware
signatures
and other indicators of compromise that would be useful to other companies at risk of being breached.
On Monday, the United States will also release more than 50 "tactics and procedures" that Chinese state-sponsored cyber hackers use when targeting US networks in hopes of grooming vulnerable entities.
The list will also include "technical mitigations to deal with this threat," the official said.
In addition to the United States, the other countries included in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing collective (the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) will make similar announcements accusing China of engaging in "irresponsible and destabilizing behavior in cyberspace."
Japan and the European Union will also join the announcement, as will NATO, which is the first time the defense bloc will publicly condemn China's cyber activities.
Biden has prioritized gaining support among allies to confront China, and during his first overseas trip last month, he convinced G7 and NATO leaders to more aggressively voice their concerns regarding China's behavior. Beijing in its final documents.
The final NATO communiqué mentioned China for the first time.
The Biden Administration Wants To Establish A "Red Telephone" With China For Emergency Communications
Monday's announcement is an extension of those efforts, officials said, pointing to cyber threats as another area of concern for the global community alongside human rights and maritime assaults.
The official said China's cyber activity "poses a major threat to the economic and national security of the United States and its allies" and framed it as "inconsistent with [China's] stated goals of being seen as a responsible leader in the world. world".
cyber attack