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      Why didn’t New Zealand impose sanctions on China?

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 02:02


    New Zealand did not follow the US and UK in imposing financial restrictions after accusing Beijing of links to cyber-attacks

    Politicians, journalists and critics of Beijing were among those targeted by cyber-attacks run by groups backed by China, western intelligence services said this week.

    The separate cyber-attacks hit the US, UK and New Zealand – all members of the Five Eyes alliance. The network of five countries, which also includes Canada and Australia, share security related intelligence.

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      Hackers obtain patient data from NHS Dumfries and Galloway

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 13:31


    Cyber-attack by Inc Ransom yielded data on at least a ‘small number’ of patients, health board says

    A hacker group is in possession of at least a “small number” of patients’ data following a cyber-attack, NHS Dumfries and Galloway has said.

    Reports emerged on Wednesday of a post by the group Inc Ransom on its darknet blog, alleging it was in possession of three terabytes of data from NHS Scotland.

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      Foreign Office summons senior Chinese diplomat over ‘malicious cyber-activity’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 2 days ago - 18:06

    Beijing’s chargé d’affaires told UK government will not tolerate threatening cyber-attacks which it unequivocally condemns

    Ministers summoned a senior Chinese diplomat to the Foreign Office on Tuesday after accusing Beijing-backed hackers of a cyber-attack on the British elections watchdog and a surveillance operation on politicians .

    The department called in China’s chargé d’affaires and told him the UK would not tolerate “threatening” cyber-attacks.

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      Does China spy on Britain? Of course. But we have more important things to discuss with them | Simon Jenkins

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 2 days ago - 06:00

    While diplomatic rows are inevitable, the priority is to keep channels open, and engage with Beijing about the climate crisis

    Once upon a time Britain would have sent a gunboat up the Yangtze River . That would teach those Chinese a lesson. To hear some MPs talk about Beijing’s espionage activities, you would think gunboats were already on their way.

    Of course, it is malicious and hurtful for a foreign state patently to hack into Britain’s Electoral Commission and target senior parliamentarians – as the government on Monday claimed China did in 2021 . It is equally malicious to fabricate MPs’ emails and use a Commons researcher as an informant. No less evil is the culture of fear sown among Britain’s 150,000 Chinese students by agents of Beijing, albeit tolerated by British universities greedy for money.

    Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

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      China cyber-attacks explained: who is behind the hacking operation against the US and UK?

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 2 days ago - 04:17

    Chinese hacking group APT 31 has been accused by UK and US officials of targeting critics of Beijing, while New Zealand’s systems have also been attacked

    The US and UK have imposed sanctions on individuals and groups that they say targeted politicians, journalists and critics of Beijing in an extensive cyber espionage campaign – allegedly operated by an arm of China’s ministry of state security.

    The scale of the operation was revealed on Monday, although some of the attacks have been previously reported on. On Tuesday, New Zealand blamed “state-sponsored” Chinese hackers for a 2021 cyber-attack that infiltrated sensitive government computer systems.

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      US sanctions hackers for targeting critical infrastructure for Chinese spy agency

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 3 days ago - 21:22

    The US alleges the individuals were working as a front for Beijing in an indictment and sanctions announcement

    The US government announced sanctions on Monday against Chinese hackers that it alleges were targeting the nation’s critical infrastructure while working for China’s government spy agency.

    The Treasury’s office of foreign assets control stated that it sanctioned Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company Ltd, which it calls a front for the Chinese ministry of state security that has “served as cover for multiple malicious cyberoperations”.

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      Justice Department indicts 7 accused in 14-year hack campaign by Chinese gov

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · 3 days ago - 20:20 · 1 minute

    Justice Department indicts 7 accused in 14-year hack campaign by Chinese gov

    Enlarge (credit: peterschreiber.media | Getty Images)

    The US Justice Department on Monday unsealed an indictment charging seven men with hacking or attempting to hack dozens of US companies in a 14-year campaign furthering economic espionage and foreign intelligence gathering by the Chinese government.

    All seven defendants, federal prosecutors alleged, were associated with Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science & Technology Co., Ltd, a front company created by the Hubei State Security Department, an outpost of the Ministry of State Security located in Wuhan province. The MSS, in turn, has funded an advanced persistent threat group tracked under names including APT31, Zirconium Violet Typhoon, Judgment Panda, and Altaire.

    Relentless 14-year campaign

    “Since at least 2010, the defendants … engaged in computer network intrusion activity on behalf of the HSSD targeting numerous US government officials, various US economic and defense industries, and a variety of private industry officials, foreign democracy activists, academics, and parliamentarians in response to geopolitical events affecting the PRC,” federal prosecutors alleged . “These computer network intrusion activities resulted in the confirmed and potential compromise of work and personal email accounts, cloud storage accounts and telephone call records belonging to millions of Americans, including at least some information that could be released in support of malign influence targeting democratic processes and institutions, and economic plans, intellectual property, and trade secrets belonging to American businesses, and contributed to the estimated billions of dollars lost every year as a result of the PRC’s state-sponsored apparatus to transfer US technology to the PRC.”

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      Labour tells China it will act on interference in UK democracy

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 3 days ago - 17:57


    Exclusive: Warning came at party’s first public meeting with Chinese government since Keir Starmer became Labour leader

    Labour has warned China that it will respond to any interference in UK democracy after the government announced fresh sanctions against hackers linked to Beijing.

    The warning came at the party’s first public meeting with the Chinese government since Keir Starmer became Labour leader.

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      UK ‘slow to hold China to account’ for cyber-attacks against MPs and voters

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 3 days ago - 08:47

    As deputy PM expected to impose sanctions, head of international alliance says ministers have taken years to respond

    The UK government has been too slow to respond to cyber-attacks by China, the head of an international group of parliamentarians focusing on the issue has said, ahead of expected new British sanctions against Beijing.

    Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, is expected to announce the sanctions in the Commons on Monday, after what the UK says have been cyber-attacks against MPs and peers , as well as one targeting the Electoral Commission in which Beijing allegedly accessed the personal details of about 40 million voters.

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