The United States and its allies NATO, the Five Eyes Alliance, the European Union and Japan unanimously accused the Chinese government of malicious cyber acts on Monday (19). In a rare statement, the U.K., the U.S. and the EU unanimously identified China as the culprit behind the “zero-day attacks” earlier this year. The U.K. and EU have also suggested that the hacking groups APT40 and APT31 are linked to China’s Ministry of State Security.
The White House and State Department issued statements on Monday in response to China’s malicious, irresponsible and destabilizing behavior in the cyber domain. The White House statement said the United States is closely monitoring China’s cultivation of an intelligence agency that includes hackers to conduct unauthorized cyber activities around the world for personal gain. The statement said there are network operators affiliated with the Chinese government that have caused the country to lose billions of dollars in intellectual property, proprietary information, and ransom money with software attacks, to the detriment of the government, businesses and critical infrastructure operators.
The statement mentioned that hackers associated with China’s Ministry of State Security used a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Server to launch a “zero-day exploit” on tens of thousands of computer systems around the world in early March this year. (zero-day exploit), the spy operation led to data leaks, private companies suffered huge losses.
The U.S. State Department statement on the same day said that China’s behavior poses a significant threat to the economic and national security of the United States and its allies, the United States has been identified with allies, is the Chinese hackers through the Microsoft exchange server “zero-day exploit” (zero-day exploit or 0-day vulnerability) The U.S. Department of Justice disclosed on the same day that the Chinese hackers had used a “zero-day exploit” (zero-day exploit or 0-day vulnerability) in the Microsoft exchange server to conduct cyber espionage.
The Justice Department disclosed on the same day that three Chinese state security officials and a contract hacker are being prosecuted in connection with attacks over the years on maritime, aviation, defense, education and health care in at least a dozen countries. (See separate article)
On the other side of the Atlantic, the U.K. and the European Union issued statements echoing each other. The UK said it confirmed with its allies that the Chinese government had hacked into global computer systems through Microsoft exchange servers, affecting more than 250,000 servers worldwide. Foreign Secretary Lan Tao Wen said the Chinese government had supported the cyber attacks and acted recklessly, and that the Chinese government must end its actions or be held accountable.
The British side also blamed the Chinese Ministry of State Security for the activities of hacker groups APT40 and APT31, saying there is evidence that China continues to carry out irresponsible cyber activities and has repeatedly ignored international calls to stop.
The EU statement revealed that the irresponsible and harmful act of sabotaging Microsoft’s exchange servers to hack into the global computer network continues to this day. The statement also said that the hacker groups “APT40” and “APT31” are launching theft and espionage in China.
Microsoft Exchange Server’s “zero-day vulnerability” was discovered in March this year. The U.S., Europe and a number of multinational companies using Microsoft Exchange Server were affected.
Similar large-scale ransom attacks in the past have mostly come from Russian hackers. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said earlier that it firmly opposes any country using cybersecurity issues to smear China.
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