China launching cyberattacks on Ukrainian government
Apr 08, 2022
Beijing [China], April 8 : Hackers who are believed to have links with China are launching cyber attacks against Ukraine following Russia's invasion of the country with reports that they are seeking to target the Ukrainian government.
In mid-March, researchers at US-based Google's security arm and a group of anonymous analysts called Intrusion Truth posted articles about repeated Chinese cyberattacks on Twitter, as per the portal.
Intrusion Truth also revealed that the hackers have links with China's military, the People's Liberation Army. It suggests that they are seeking to target the Ukrainian government.
The cyber defence unit of Ukraine issued a warning about these cyber attacks. In one of the incidents, an email containing malware was sent throughout Ukraine. The email asked the users to store the videos evidencing damage being carried out by the Russian forces to the civilians. The malware in the email is intended to use in order to steal or destroy the collected data, reported Asia Nikkei.
One US security company named SentinelOne also identified that hacker group Scarab has links with the Xi Jinping government. The Senior threat researcher, Tom Hegel, said the attack by Scrab "represents the first publicly reported attack on Ukraine from a non-Russian [Advanced Persistent Threat]." Numerous signs are there of China manoeuvring secretly in cyberspace.
Not only security agencies from the US but also The Times of London reported cyberattacks by China. The Times of London cited intelligence memos and reported that China launched "a huge cyberattack on Ukraine's military and nuclear facilities in the buildup to Russia's invasion." According to the Times, more than 600 websites belonging to Ukraine's defence Ministry and other institutions "suffered thousands of hacking attempts."