Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, speaks at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC in Beijing, China, July 1, 2021.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, speaks at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC in Beijing, China, July 1, 2021. Photo by Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via Getty Images

Biden Goes After China’s Cyber Attackers

U.S. and allies blame China’s government, announce new measures to fight a massive cyber criminal ring akin to Russia’s, but threaten no sanctions yet.

U.S. officials announced new measures aimed at exposing and disrupting China’s government-sponsored cyber criminal activities, including enlisting key NATO and other allies to reveal new details about the methods by which some massive cyber attacks have affected thousands of government and private networks in the United States, and how to protect against them.

The officials said the international effort was a direct output of President Joe Biden’s first foreign trip to meet with G7 and NATO leaders, last month. It also may be the first step in a new multilateral coalition of allies that could eventually impose economic penalties on the Chinese government, similar to those that some Western states have placed on Russia. But those penalties aren’t here yet.

A senior administration official told reporters on Sunday that the United States had convinced allies to name China’s Ministry of State Security as a key player in various criminal cyber activities. The official gave no indication that economic penalties would be arriving soon. 

Instead, the White House on Monday released a fact sheet co-authored by the National Security Agency, Cybersecurity Infrastructure & Security Agency, and the FBI detailing 50 ways that criminal actors, allegedly sponsored by the Chinese government, attack Western networks, and how to defend against them. 

“Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors aggressively target U.S. and allied political, economic, military, educational, and critical infrastructure (CI), personnel and organizations to steal sensitive data, critical and emerging key technologies, intellectual property, and personally identifiable information (PII),” the fact sheet says.

Regarding one of those targets, the senior official said, “The United States government, alongside our allies and partners, will formally attribute the malicious cyber campaign utilizing the zero-day vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Exchange Server disclosed in March,” referring to a massive hack aimed at Microsoft cloud services that likely comprised as many as 30,000 U.S. organizations. Those allies and partners include the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and NATO. 

“No one action can change China’s behavior in cyberspace and neither can just one country acting on its own. Our allies and partners are a tremendous source of strength and a unique American advantage, and our collective approach to cyber threat information sharing, defense,” said the official. “Hence, these efforts — our cooperation with the EU, NATO, and the Five Eyes countries in this effort — will allow us to enhance and increase information sharing, including cyber-threat intel and network defense information with public and private stakeholders, and expand diplomatic engagement to strengthen our collective cyber resilience and security cooperation.”

The official also said that the United States and key allies were now ready to name China as a supporter of the same sort of cyber criminal sponsorship of which the United States and others have accused Russia. “We sometimes see individuals moonlighting. And we see, you know, some connections between Russian intelligence services and individuals. But this kind of — the [Chinese Ministry of State Security] use of criminal contract hackers to conduct unsanctioned cyber operations globally is distinct,” said the official.

That could lay the groundwork for the United States to press allies such as the European Union to place new sanctions on China for its sponsorship of such activities. Precedent shows that European allies might be willing to extend economic sanctions on China, as the EU did in May. The United States, conversely, has largely relied on the Department of Justice to target Chinese operators individually but has not imposed sanctions on China for cyber activity.

The White House fact sheet set to be released on Monday shows “how the [Ministry of State Security] is using criminal contract hackers to conduct unsanctioned cyber operations globally, including for their own personal profit,” said the official, calling it, “very significant.” The announcements will show “the cyber-enabled extortion, crypto-jacking -- again, all for financial gain of PRC-government-affiliated cyber operators,” said the senior official.

Dmitri Alperovitch, head of the Silverado policy think tank, called it an “impressive coalition to denounce China,” but said “the next step has to have penalties.” 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.