- US Navy struck by Chinese hacking campaign, a new report suggests
- The latest attack is believed to be part of a broader plan to disrupt communications in the Pacific region
- Microsoft Corp. warned that the group was able to gain access to targets in the US as well as Guam
The Chinese hacker group known as "Volt Typhoon" is believed to be responsible for a targeted attack on the US Navy infrastructure, a new report suggests.
American authorities believe that the latest hacking attack is part of a broader campaign that cybersecurity experts warn is designed to disrupt communications in the Pacific region. In a statement on Thursday, US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said that the Chinese state-sponsored hacking group hit the Navy.
Chinese Hacking Group Targets US Navy
Volt Typhoon has previously been accused of breaching government, communications, manufacturing, and IT organizations. Microsoft Corp. was the one that named the group and gave the warning of the hacking attacks on Wednesday.
They added that the assailants were able to gain access to targets in the United States and Guam, where a key US military installation in the Pacific is located. Microsoft noted that it had "moderate confidence" that the hacks were made in preparation to upend communications in the event of a future crisis, as per the South China Morning Post.
The disclosure of the attack comes amid rising concerns that China could proceed with military action to enforce its repeated claim to the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The National Security Agency (NSA) and intelligence agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, provided more details regarding the hacking group.
All of these countries are part of a key intelligence alliance that allows the sharing of cybersecurity information known as the Five Eyes. On Thursday, Beijing denied it had anything to do with the hacking attacks.
In a statement, China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that the report was extremely unprofessional and called it a "patchwork with a broken chain of evidence." She added that the US had launched a collective disinformation campaign through the Five Eyes to serve its geopolitical agenda.
Broader Campaign To Disrupt Communications
On the other hand, a State Department spokesperson noted that the government and the public needed to stay vigilant. During a briefing, Matthew Miller said they would continue coordinating with allies and partners to address what he called a "critical issue," according to CNBC.
The director of cybersecurity at the NSA, Rob Joyce, said that the hackers could still have access to sensitive US networks. He added that the recent intrusions were unique due to their brazen "scope and scale."
The former NSA director of operations, Jon Darby, said the process was comparable to a well-known way of infiltrating networks by accessing them at the edges instead of a bulls-eye approach. He noted that this was how the Chinese hacking group could stay undetected for several years, said Yahoo Finance.
