The Chinese government has denied that its spies are targeting Western targets, branding the joint warning issued by the US and its allies a “collective disinformation campaign.”
A group of Chinese hackers have recently prompted a multi-nation alert have been conducting a cyberespionage operation against military and government targets in the United States.
The organisation, called “Volt Typhoon” by Microsoft, was the target of a cybersecurity and intelligence alert issued by the United States, the United Kingdom, and their close allies.
According to researcher Marc Burnard, whose business – Secureworks – has dealt with many attacks related to Chinese cyber spies, Chinese cyber spies “primarily target organisations in the United States in defence and government verticals (fields), primarily for espionage purposes.”
The investigation by Secureworks, a division of Dell Technologies, gives context to Microsoft’s warning released on Wednesday.
Volt Typhoon was developing capabilities “that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises,” a nod to rising tensions between China and the United States over Taiwan and other concerns, according to the warning.
According to Microsoft, the gang has targeted critical infrastructure organisations in the US Pacific territory of Guam.