New Zealand Accuses China Of Hacking Parliament

New Zealand government has accused China of hacking Parliament in 2021, which was uncovered by New Zealand intelligence service. The revelation came as US and UK accuse Beijing of cyber espionage campaign. New Zealand and Australia condemned the broader activity.

Winston Peter, the Foreign Minister of New Zealand in a statement said that such foreign interference is not acceptable, and has urged China to refrain from such activities. He said the concerns of cyber activity from groups sponsored by Chinese government, targeting both New Zealand and UK had been conveyed to Chinese ambassador.

Meanwhile, China rejected the accusation. Spokesperson from Chinese embassy in New Zealand said through an email that the reject the “outright such groundless and irresponsible accusations”. He said, “We have never, nor will we in the future, interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including New Zealand. Accusing China of foreign interference is completely barking up the wrong tree”.

Earlier this week, the communications security bureau (GCSB) of New Zealand, which overseas cyber security and signal intelligence of the country, found links between a Chinese state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat 40 (APT40) and malicious cyber activity targeting New Zealand’s parliamentary services and parliamentary counsel office 2021, said Reuters.

GCSB said that APT40 gained access to significant information that enables the effective running of the New Zealand government, but nothing sensitive of strategic matter had been removed. It said the Chinese sponsored had removed information that is more aligned with technical nature that would have allowed more intrusive activity.

Lat year, New Zealand accused Russian government for malicious cyber activity against its government. US and UK filed charges and sanctions, accusing China of sweeping cyber espionage campaign that allegedly reached millions of people including academics, journalists, lawmakers and companies including defence contractors.

London and Washington officials named the cyber attack as Advanced Persistent Threat 31 (APT31), and called it an arm of China’s Military of State Security.