China
maliciously accessed 40 million Britons
in its cyber attacks.
Britain and the United States have accused Beijing of launching a “prolific” global campaign of cyberattacks, targeting the personal information of
politicians, journalists, academics and millions of voters.
The two people sanctioned by the UK are
Zhao Guangzong
, 38, and
Ni Gaobin
, 38. Both are said to be members of the hacker group
APT31
, as well as
Wuhan Xiaoruizhi
of Science and Technology Company Ltd, which according to the government was a front organization for APT31.
Ministers are also set to formally declare China
“a threat to Britain's national security”
following revelations of the scale of its cyber attack on the UK, a senior official said.
British Conservative MPs said the government's actions did not go far enough, given the magnitude of the threat.
Former army intelligence officer Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative leader who has been sanctioned by Beijing and attacked by hackers, compared the government's position to "an elephant giving birth to a mouse."
The attack on the Electoral Commission gave Chinese hackers
access to the names and addresses of more than 40 million people
on the electoral roll, who were registered to vote between 2014 and 2022. The hackers also obtained
emails from the system.
Officials believe the data could be mapped to other data sets to help identify individuals, especially
dissident groups in the UK
.
Mass data collection is a well-known tactic of Beijing and artificial intelligence has allowed the state to make better use of it.
Joint operation
In an unprecedented joint operation
to expose Chinese espionage
, London and Washington revealed details of a
decade-long
campaign by Beijing to “suppress critics, compromise government institutions and steal trade secrets.”
London targets members of hacking group APT31.
Photo: AFP
New Zealand revealed on Tuesday that Chinese agents
had also hacked into its parliament
and condemned China for “its malicious cyber activity.”
In the United Kingdom, ministers said China had gained access to a “treasure trove” of personal information in a cyberattack on Britain's electoral watchdog and had attempted to spy on MPs critical of Beijing.
Those attacks are intensifying as the British general election approaches this year.
The United Kingdom sanctioned two Chinese officials and an organization in response to the attacks.
The United States
charged seven people
for attacks they said had occurred since at least 2010.
China defends itself
The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed Britain had provided insufficient evidence of the attacks.
He called the accusations
"unprofessional
. "
He accused the United States of working to “hype up so-called Chinese cyberattacks” and announced that he had “made strong representations with the United States and relevant parties.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed Britain had provided insufficient evidence of the attacks.
Photo: AP
Britain summoned China's ambassador to the Foreign Office to protest.
In United States
US authorities revealed that a small group of Chinese hackers, known as
Advanced Persistent Threat 31
(APT31), had compromised the emails, cloud storage, and phone call logs of
millions of Americans
.
The hackers sent 10,000 "malicious" emails to their targets
to compromise their systems.
MPs call for
“new era of relations with China
” amid reports of cyber attacks.
The United States warned that this information could be disclosed in support of a “malign influence,” targeting democratic processes and institutions, economic plans, intellectual property and trade secrets belonging to American companies.
In New Zealand
Chinese agents, backed by the state, also attacked New Zealand's parliamentary advice office and parliamentary service in 2021, said Judith Collins, New Zealand's security minister.
An assessment found that Chinese state-sponsored actors, known as Advanced Persistent Threat 40 (APT 40), were responsible.
They are linked to China's Ministry of State Security,
according to the New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
The GCSB said on Tuesday that while the data had been removed from New Zealand parliament's IT systems, it was not "strategic" in nature.
The director general of the New Zealand Government Security Office takes aim at China.
Photo: AP
"The use of cyber espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere
is unacceptable
," Collins said.
Like the United Kingdom and the United States, New Zealand is also a member of
the Western Five Eyes intelligence network,
which includes Canada and Australia.
Ministers are also set to formally declare China a threat to Britain's national security following revelations of the scale of its cyber attack on the UK, the deputy prime minister said.
In the House of Commons, Oliver Dowden, deputy prime minister, insisted that the UK's political processes and institutions had not been harmed.
"It will not affect the way people register, vote or otherwise participate in democratic processes," he said.
"I want to reassure people that the compromise of this information, while obviously concerning, does not typically create a risk to those affected," she said.
China denies
China denied the allegations.
The Chinese embassy said: “China's so-called cyber attacks against the UK are completely fabricated and malicious smears.
We strongly oppose such accusations.
“China has always firmly fought against all forms of cyberattacks.”
“
China does not encourage, support or tolerate cyberattacks,
” he said.
Robert Jenrick, the former British immigration minister, described the response as
laughable
and accused the government of “letting China off the hook.”
“This weak response will only embolden China to continue its aggression towards the UK.
“It is very clear that China should be classified as
a hostile state,”
he said.
Merrick Garland, US attorney general, said the investigation showed “the lengths to which the Chinese government is willing to go to attack and intimidate its critics” and threaten the “national security of the United States and our allies.”
Lisa Monaco, his deputy, added: “The Department of Justice will relentlessly pursue, expose and hold accountable cybercriminals who would undermine democracies and threaten our national security.”
Last year, The Times revealed that a Chinese spy
was using LinkedIn profiles
to lure British officials into handing over state secrets in exchange for money.
For five years, the agent, whose main alias is Robin Zhang, created a series of aliases and fake companies to attack security officials, public officials, scientists and academics, with access to classified information or commercially sensitive technology.
China, Britain's fifth trading partner
China is Britain's fifth largest trading partner.
While total imports from China fell last year,
British exports grew by almost 12 per cent.
Government figures show that trade in goods and services in the 12 months to the end of September amounted to £100.9bn.
Of this, exports to China accounted for £37.5 billion (up 11.9% on the previous 12 months) and imports accounted for £63.5 billion (down 12.6%). .
Consulting firm Grant Thornton found this month that 970 Chinese-owned companies employ more than 59,000 people in the UK.
In 2023 they contributed £116.4 billion of total income to the economy.
The Sunday Times reported that EVE Energy, the Chinese maker of Tesla-type cylindrical car batteries, was about to invest
billions in building Britain's largest gigafactory.
They are understood to be in advanced negotiations to build a 60 gigawatt-hour factory on the outskirts of Coventry.
The company will initially commit to investing at least £1.2bn in a 20GWh gigafactory, according to sources close to the negotiations.
Some of China's largest investments
have been in the energy sector
, specifically nuclear power.
Chinese state-owned China General Nuclear (CGN) has bought a 33.5 per cent stake in the Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset, the first new nuclear facility built in the UK in more than 20 years.
CGN, which has been blacklisted by the United States for allegedly helping to acquire American technology for military use in China, was eventually forced to abandon the project using taxpayer money.
But the intelligence and security committee warned last year that it had serious doubts about future projects.
The Chinese state has also built up stakes in British oil and gas companies and in the technology and education sectors.
Password Tips
People with access to sensitive information have been given
new advice to protect their passwords
and devices from Chinese spies.
The new guidance, published by the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), accepts that "it may be
It's hard to remember passwords, so it's okay to write them down." But he urges people to "keep them safe, where other people can't access them."
”Separate it from your devices,”
they suggest.
He recommends using
an online password manager,
which will offer a secure way to store passwords, either in a web browser or in an app, that uses a master password or biometrics.
The NCSC says that when attackers compromise an account, they often steal or guess the password, rather than using a more sophisticated method.
Weak passwords often contained names, places, or a series of numbers.
The advice adds: "The NCSC recommends using a sequence of three random words to make a complex but easy-to-remember password."
The advice is aimed at "high risk" individuals, including politicians, their staff, activists, academics, journalists and lawyers, who have access to or influence over sensitive information that "could be of interest to domestic state actors".
It advises people to always
install updates for apps and devices
and to replace old phones and laptops when manufacturers stop releasing security updates.