New Zealand Accuses Chinese ‘State-Sponsored’ Hackers Of Targeting Parliament

New Zealand’s security minister has claimed that the Chinese government launched a state-sponsored hacking operation targeting its parliament in 2021. The allegations come just one day after the US and UK had accused China of hacking journalists, officials and pro-democracy activists among others.

“The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) Judith Collins said in a media statement.

“The GCSB’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) completed a robust technical assessment following a compromise of the Parliamentary Counsel Office and the Parliamentary Service in 2021 and has attributed this activity to a PRC (China) state-sponsored group known as APT40,” Collins added. “Fortunately, in this instance, the NCSC worked with the impacted organisations to contain the activity and remove the actor shortly after they were able to access the network.”

According to an Al Jazeera report New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Tuesday that the cyberattack was “unacceptable” and New Zealand had conveyed its concerns to Beijing.

“We cooperate with China in some areas for mutual benefit,” he said. “At the same time, we have also been consistent and clear that we will speak out on issues of concern.”

New Zealand has specifically blamed the Chinese “state-sponsored group” APT31 for the attack. APT31 is believed to be the cyber arm of China’s Ministry of State Security.

China responded to the allegations on Tuesday by stating that it “opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyberattacks” and accused the US of using the Five Eyes spying alliance “to compile and disseminate false information about threats from Chinese hackers.” Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that Beijing “will take necessary measures to safeguard China’s legitimate rights and interests.”