US and UK accuse China of cyberespionage affecting millions.

On Monday, US and British officials jointly announced a series of actions against China, alleging a significant cyberespionage campaign that impacted millions worldwide. Dubbed “Advanced Persistent Threat 31” or “APT31,” the hacking group is purportedly linked to China’s Ministry of State Security. Among its targets were a wide array of individuals and organizations, including government officials, lawmakers, academics, journalists, and defense contractors.

According to Deputy US Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the aim of the operation was to stifle critics of the Chinese regime, compromise government institutions, and pilfer trade secrets. American officials revealed that the hacking spree, spanning over a decade, affected various sectors, including defense, energy, and telecommunications. Notably, the hackers allegedly targeted leading providers of 5G mobile telephone equipment and wireless technology.

In an unsealed indictment, US prosecutors accused seven alleged Chinese hackers of compromising millions of Americans’ work accounts, personal emails, online storage, and telephone call records. Meanwhile, London authorities implicated APT31 in hacking British lawmakers critical of China, alongside another group of Chinese spies responsible for breaching Britain’s electoral watchdog, potentially compromising millions more individuals’ data.

Chinese diplomats in Britain and the US dismissed the allegations as baseless, labeling them as fabricated and slanderous. Nonetheless, both the US and Britain imposed sanctions on a firm identified as a front company for China’s Ministry of State Security, with the US Treasury Department targeting Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology and two Chinese nationals.

FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized the announcement’s significance, denouncing China’s persistent efforts to undermine cybersecurity and target American interests and innovation. The tensions surrounding cyberespionage have escalated between Beijing and Washington, with Western intelligence agencies increasingly raising concerns about alleged Chinese state-backed hacking activities.

China, in turn, has accused Western nations of engaging in similar hacking operations. Notably, the Chinese Ministry of State Security claimed that the US National Security Agency had repeatedly infiltrated Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei Technologies. The indictment also highlighted numerous unnamed victims globally, with specific instances such as the 2020 targeting of a US presidential campaign’s staffers and the 2018 hacking of an American firm involved in public opinion research, coinciding with a US midterm election. John Hultquist, chief analyst for US cybersecurity intelligence firm Mandiant, emphasized the rich intelligence sources political organizations offer, noting their attractiveness to actors like APT31 tasked with collecting geopolitical insights and vast data troves.