Western intelligence agencies and Microsoft on Wednesday, revealed that a state-sponsored Chinese hacker gang had been spying on a wide range of key infrastructure organisations in the United States, from telecoms to transportation hubs.
According to Microsoft, the espionage has also targeted the US island jurisdiction of Guam, which is home to strategically significant American military, and “mitigating this attack could be challenging.”
On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the hacking charges were the result of a “collective disinformation campaign” by the Five Eyes countries, which include the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Mao stated that the effort was undertaken by the United States for geopolitical purposes, and that the study from Microsoft experts demonstrated that the United States government was spreading its disinformation channels outside official entities.
Microsoft experts expressed “moderate confidence” that this Chinese organisation, codenamed “Volt Typhoon,” was developing capabilities capable of disrupting crucial communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia during future crises.
If China invades Taiwan, security analysts predict that Chinese hackers will attack US military networks and other key infrastructure.
The NSA and other Western cyber agencies urged enterprises that control key infrastructure to use the technical instructions they gave to detect hostile activity.
According to Microsoft, the Chinese hacking group has been active since at least 2021 and has targeted areas such as communications, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology, and education.