An alleged campaign by Chinese state-sponsored hackers on targets in the US and Guam has raised fears that Beijing is preparing to disrupt communications in the Pacific in the event of a conflict.
The hacking campaign was first identified by Microsoft Corp on Wednesday and quickly confirmed by authorities in the US, UK and other allied nations.
Microsoft said the hacking group, which it dubbed Volt Typhoon, had breached government, communications, manufacturing and IT organizations in the US and Guam, a crucial military post in the western Pacific Ocean.
Photo: AP
While the identities of most of the hacking victims remains unknown, US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told CNBC on Thursday that the navy was affected by the intrusions.
The extent of the breach was not immediately known, and spokesperson for the navy declined to “discuss the status of our networks.”
Rob Joyce, senior adviser for cybersecurity strategy to the director of the US National Security Agency (NSA), on Thursday told CNN that Chinese hackers could still have access to sensitive US networks that they have targeted.
Joyce said the intrusions stood out in how brazen they were in “scope and scale.”
An NSA representative declined to comment and referred instead to a release by the NSA and other US agencies on the Chinese hacking group.
Microsoft said it had “moderate confidence” that the breaches were carried out in preparation to upend communications in the event of a crisis.
The company’s disclosure came amid mounting concerns that China might take military action against Taiwan.
Former NSA director of operations Jon Darby said the operation matched a well-known method of infiltrating networks by accessing them at the edges, rather than at what he called the bull’s-eye, and then remaining undetected for years.
“The interesting thing is they got in from home routers all the way into the US Navy infrastructure,” said Darby, who is not familiar with the details of this specific case.
“The scary thing is they could then launch disruptive or destructive attacks when things are hitting the fan,” he said. “If they’re in these networks they can wreak havoc. You’ve got to identify and plug up the vulnerabilities that allowed them to get into these networks and eradicate them.”
The NSA, along with intelligence agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, also shared details on the hackers. The countries are all part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.
“We noted this extremely unprofessional report — a patchwork with a broken chain of evidence,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said. “Apparently, this has been a collective disinformation campaign launched by the US through the Five Eyes to serve its geopolitical agenda.”
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS