Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

After China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center released a report disclosing the false narrative of Volt Typhoon – a hacker group labeled by US and its Five Eyes allies as “China-sponsored” actor, the US Embassy in China and Microsoft which were reached out by the Global Times for comment gave no response as of press time. 

Relevant US departments are urged to respond to the technical investigation report released by the China, and the US should understand that China's cybersecurity defense technology is becoming increasingly capable of finding falsehood and countering attacks, and the US should refrain from arbitrarily fabricating evidence to frame China, analysts said. 

China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center, National Engineering Laboratory for Computer Virus Prevention Technology and 360 Digital Security Group conducted an investigation on a joint cybersecurity advisory released by the Five Eyes in May 2023 and a Microsoft report which claimed they had discovered cluster of activity of interest associated with a "China state-sponsored cyber actor," known as Volt Typhoon, and these activities "affected networks across US critical infrastructure sectors."
The investigation by the Chinese side found that Volt Typhoon has more correlation with ransomware group or other cybercriminals.

Multiple cybersecurity authorities in the US have been pushing a "China-sponsored" Volt Typhoon false narrative just for seeking more budgets from the US Congress. Meanwhile, Microsoft and other US cybersecurity companies also want more big contracts from US cybersecurity authorities, according to the investigation report.

The Global Times has reached out to the US Embassy in China and Microsoft for comment on the latest report, but has received no response as of press time. No US agencies mentioned in the report has responded. 

Volt Typhoon hacker group is a ransomware cybercriminal organization without state or regional support background, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press conference on Monday commenting on the investigation report.

Li noted that various signs indicate that US intelligence community and cybersecurity companies are colluding to fabricate so-called evidence and spread false information that the Chinese government supports cyberattacks against the US, in order to seek congressional budget appropriations and government contracts.

Volt Typhoon allegation has been hyped by the US since last year and again recently, the Chinese side has produced a reliable technical investigation report proving that this is indeed a complete false narrative targeting China. It is necessary for relevant US departments to respond to these claims, Zhuo Hua, an international affairs expert at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy of Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times.

Zhuo said that in recent years, the US government has been engaging in competition with China and various US departments take US’ national strategy as a business opportunity to profit from, which has led to a collusion between government and business in the anti-China "industrial chain." In order to vie for executive power, budget, and economic benefits, relevant departments and companies have spared no effort to fabricate evidence, endorsing any issue with the label of "Chinese threat." 

In reality, various US departments tacitly understand the production of false narratives related to China, and they are well aware that these false narratives are untenable and cannot withstand scrutiny, Zhuo said. 

Zhuo noted that some interest groups in the US should understand that in recent years, China's cybersecurity defense technology has rapidly advanced. Not only does it increasingly have the ability to prove itself against the US accusations, but it also has defensive and counterattack capabilities against cyberattacks from the US.

Relying on its dominance in media and technology to vilify China and undermine international cybersecurity is no longer sustainable for the US, said Zhuo.