Beijing, July 9 (FN Bureau) The Five Eyes spy alliance—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States—aaccused China on Tuesday of orchestrating cyberattacks on government agencies in Australia and beyond. A report published by the Australian Signals Directorate in collaboration with security agencies in the Five Eyes partner states of Germany, Japan, and South Korea claimed that the Chinese Ministry of State Security was using the Advanced Persistent Threat 40 (APT40) cybergroup to hack up “networks of interest.”
“APT40 has repeatedly targeted Australian networks as well as government and private sector networks in the region, and the threat they pose to our networks is ongoing… This group conducts malicious cyber operations for the PRC [People’s Republic of China] Ministry of State Security,” it read. The report, entitled “APT40 Advisory: PRC MSS Tradecraft in Action,” claimed that the cybergroup regularly conducted reconnaissance against networks of interest to identify vulnerable, end-of-life, or no longer maintained devices and deploy exploits. APT40 has allegedly been scouring for vulnerabilities since 2017. China has continuously denied accusations of cyberattacks by state-backed actors and reportedly accused the US of conducting its own attacks.