The American authorities announced on Wednesday that they had neutralized a network of cyber pirates called Volt Typhoon, targeting, according to Washington, the country’s civil infrastructure on behalf of China.
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The group, active since 2021, was according to Washington capable of paralyzing sectors such as communications, transport and even the American government in the United States.
This affair once again highlights the Asian giant’s alleged nuisance capabilities in terms of cybersecurity, accusations that Beijing vigorously rejects with each allegation.
Here’s what you need to know about cyberespionage operations attributed to China.
Specialist work
The operation foiled on Wednesday by the United States allowed hackers via malicious software to have access to “vital infrastructure” such as communications, transport and the water sector, according to Washington.
These sensitive infrastructures were infiltrated by a takeover of routers, vulnerable because they were at “end of life”, claimed the American authorities.
These devices, a sort of gateway to computer systems, were therefore no longer subject to updates.
Hackers took advantage of this flaw to infiltrate and hide the origin of future attacks launched from China, according to Washington.
This is “specialist” work, analyst Matthew Brazil, a former American diplomat now attached to the Jamestown Foundation, a research institute based in the United States, told AFP.
Precedents
Last May, Microsoft said it had detected a campaign against sensitive infrastructure in the United States led by this same network of cyber hackers.
The Microsoft group then claimed that the hackers’ objective was to disrupt communications infrastructures in Asia and the United States in the event of a crisis.
And to note that these hackers, with the supposed support of the Chinese government, sought to be as discreet as possible in the systems before taking action.
Universities are also in the sights of Volt Typhoon, Microsoft warned in November.
“Continuing threat”
Washington believes that China poses “the greatest cyberespionage threat” as well as “the most active and ongoing” to the US government and the country’s businesses.
According to researchers and Western intelligence officials, Beijing’s hackers have become experts at breaking into rival countries’ systems, including collecting trade secrets.
In 2021, the United States, NATO and other allies blamed China for a massive hack against Microsoft’s messaging services.
Chinese hackers have also infiltrated systems at the U.S. Department of Energy, businesses and universities, according to the U.S. government and media reports.
Since the early 2000s, China has been involved in 90 cyberespionage operations, Benjamin Jensen, a researcher at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told the US Congress last year. .
“piracy empire”
China regularly condemns these accusations, saying itself is the victim of numerous cyberattacks by the United States.
Beijing, which regularly points out the substantial technical and surveillance resources available to the Americans, accuses the United States of being “the largest computer hacking empire in the world”.
Last July, China blamed Washington for a cyberattack against the seismological center in Wuhan, a large city in the center of the country.
A spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy, Mao Ning, then estimated that this alleged attack represented “a threat” to China’s national security and pointed the finger at “the American government”.
