China denies allegations made by U.S. and allies on Microsoft hack

Several Western countries, along with the U.S., charge China against hacking Microsoft Exchange on Monday. Due to the high usage of this email platform, it has become a global issue. Those nations tagged this Microsoft hack problem as a “reckless” attitude, which threatens global security. China, however, opposed all sorts of assertions claiming them as “fabricated”.

Zhao Lijian, the foreign ministry spokesperson, tells a reporter, “The US has mustered its allies to carry out unreasonable criticisms against China on the issue of cybersecurity.”  The UK, Australia, EU, and New Zealand come under the list of countries that joined the US to point the finger at Chinese state-sponsored actors of “malicious cyber activity”.

Microsoft’s Exchange system strengthens the email of renowned corporations, public bodies, and small businesses globally. The Microsoft hack will affect a minimum of 30,000 companies. Microsoft blames a Chinese cyber-espionage group for exploiting an intrusion in Microsoft Exchange. It seems to enable hackers to access email inboxes from any corner of the world.

Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Centre founds a group called Hafnium that is state-sponsored and currently operating out of China. The Western security sources claim the group possesses advanced level knowledge, which Microsoft aims to deal with the susceptibility. They further share it with some China-based groups in accordance to exploit it.

Sources affirm the hack might signal a transfer from an aimed espionage campaign to a smash-and-grab raid. This shift can further lead to facts of the escalation of the Chinese cyber behavior. As per the UK Foreign Office, the Chinese government had “ignored repeated calls to end its reckless campaign, instead of allowing state-backed actors to increase the scale of their attacks”.

Joe Biden, the US President, says there are possibilities of the Chinese government not performing these attacks by themselves. However, they are undoubtedly protecting those exercising it and might be accommodating them too. The US Department of Justice announces criminal charges against four hackers associated with China’s Ministry of State Security.

Credits: BBC