New Zealand says Chinese ‘state-sponsored’ group hacked parliament
New Zealand has accused Chinese state-sponsored hackers of infiltrating parliament, joining the United States and United Kingdom in accusing Beijing of malicious cyberactivity.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Tuesday that the cyberattack was “unacceptable” and his country’s concerns had been conveyed directly to Beijing.
“Foreign interference of this nature is unacceptable, and we have urged China to refrain from such activity in future. New Zealand will continue to speak out – consistently and predictably – where we see concerning behaviours like this,” Peters said.
Peters, who last week met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, said New Zealand and China shared a “significant and complex relationship”.
“We cooperate with China in some areas for mutual benefit,” he said. ”At the same time, we have also been consistent and clear that we will speak out on issues of concern.”
New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) said earlier that its National Cyber Security Centre discovered that a state-backed hacking group known as “APT40” had compromised computers linked to the parliamentary network in 2021.
“The NCSC provided extensive support to the victim organisations to reduce the impact of the compromise and delivered advice to other organisations potentially at risk by association,” GCSB Director-General Andrew Clark said in a statement.
“Analysis of the tactics and techniques used by the actor enabled us to confidently link the actor to a People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored group known as APT40. This link has been reinforced by analysis from international partners of similar events in their own jurisdictions.”
Source: Al Jazeera