Cartoon: GT

China opposes US and its allies accusing China of directing cyberattacks, a spokesperson from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. The spokesperson added that the international community sees clearly who is conducting long-term monitoring and espionage on its allies, carrying out indiscriminate cyberattacks on other countries, and the source of all evil in promoting global cybersecurity threats.

In an Australia-led report published on Tuesday morning, cybersecurity and intelligence agencies for the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Germany said that advanced persistent threat 40 (also known as APT40) had "repeatedly" targeted governments across the Indo-Pacific. The group was able to steal hundreds of unique user names and passwords in one incident in April 2022, as well as intercepting multi-factor authentication codes, the report said.

"The authoring agencies assess that this group conduct malicious cyber operations for the PRC Ministry of State Security (MSS)," the report said, adding that APT40 more regularly exploited vulnerabilities in public-facing infrastructure rather than using techniques which required user interaction, such as phishing campaigns, Bloomberg reported.

In response, Lin Jian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that the countries behind the report are trying to stir up trouble by accusing China of cyberattacks, using the issue of cyber security to smear and discredit China. A development which China firmly opposes.

In fact, in recent times, Chinese agencies have released multiple analysis reports, including reports on American APT organizations, which have thoroughly exposed how the US has long been spreading false information, hyping up the threat of Chinese cyberattacks, while at the same time using its hegemonic position and technological advantage to engage in global surveillance and espionage.

In January, a cybersecurity report for 2023 released by Antiy Labs, one of China's foremost cybersecurity companies, said that global APT activities remain at a severe level. APT organizations are primarily distributed in countries and regions such as the US and India, with the US continuing to pose the main threat to global cybersecurity.

The report summarized the distribution and activity of global APT organizations and activities in 2023. The US dominates the 556 APT organizations globally, and the highest level of attacks, known as A2PT attacks. APT organizations that pose a threat to China and neighboring countries also operate in India and Taiwan island.

Lin said on Tuesday that it is puzzling that the US has never provided a reasonable explanation for who is the real mastermind behind the long-term surveillance and espionage against its allies, and who is the ultimate source of the global cybersecurity threat. It is believed that the international community sees this very clearly.

Lin said that China had exposed the US for spreading false information about "Volt Typhoon" targeting China on Monday, and today news about China's cyberattacks being hyped up by the Western media. This coincidence leads people to suspect that there may be certain countries manipulating behind the scenes to divert attention.

We advise relevant parties to keep their eyes open, distinguish right from wrong, and not to help other countries at their own expense, ending up with a loss for themselves and others, said Lin.

After China released a report on Volt Typhoon, the US, in order to cover up the evidence, instructed related companies to change the content of report they released previously, completely disregarding the traces left during the operation, the Global Times learned on Sunday. However, the US Embassy in China and company involved stayed silent when contacted by the Global Times comment.

"In the field of international cybersecurity, the US is the least qualified to point fingers because it has no national credibility in this area. Over the past twenty years, the world has witnessed the US fabricate false intelligence to launch wars. Its intelligence agencies recklessly conduct cyber espionage and surveillance on countries, including its allies, deploy cyber weapons, and paralyze critical infrastructure of other countries through actual APT attacks. The US is the primary threat that supports cyberattacks with national power,"Zhuo Hua, an expert on international affairs at the School of International Relations at Beijing Foreign Studies University told the Global Times.