© Mike Segar/Reuters
The Biden administration blamed China for the hack of Microsoft Exchange servers that compromised tens of thousands of computers in March of this year, in statements to reporters on Monday.
The administration has so far declined to impose sanctions on China over the hack. In addition to the Microsoft Exchange hack, the administration also accused China of working with "criminal" hackers to target companies for ransom.
"We have raised our concerns about both this incident and the [People's Republic of China's] broader malicious cyber activity with senior PRC Government officials, making clear that the PRC's actions threaten security, confidence, and stability in cyberspace," a White House fact sheet stated.
A number of European allies joined the White House in condemning the hacking operations. While sanctions on China were not immediately forthcoming, the Biden administration believes the joint statements with allies will send an important message to the country, a U.S. official told the
Associated Press.
The announcement by the White House comes after a number of ransomware attacks in recent months tied to Russian hackers
. In May, a group called Darkside hacked Colonial Pipeline, which transports roughly 45 percent of fuel consumed on the U.S. east coast. The pipeline shut down for several days and the company paid roughly $4.4 million in ransom to Darkside, although at least $2.3 million was
recovered by the Justice Department.
Comment: RT
reports:
UK & US condemn broader 'Chinese hacking'
In a statement on Monday, Norway's Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said that an investigation into an attack on the national parliament's email system on March 10 concluded that the attack "was carried out from China."
She said that several of Norway's allies, the European Union and Microsoft had also confirmed the findings of the country's intelligence services. The attacks had targeted a security hole in Microsoft's Exchange software, the minister said.
"This is a serious incident which has hit our most important democratic institution," she noted.
Eriksen Soereide said the Chinese ambassador to Norway had been summoned to discuss the issue, adding that she hoped Beijing would take the matter very seriously. "Chinese authorities must prevent such attacks from taking place," she stated.
The minister's comments came as the UK, US, Canada and the EU accused China and its Ministry of State Security of a global cyber hacking campaign linked with an earlier attack on Microsoft.
"The cyberattack on Microsoft Exchange Server by Chinese state-backed groups was a reckless but familiar pattern of behavior," said British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in a statement on Monday.
In March, Microsoft announced that a cyber breach had affected tens of thousands computers worldwide. The firm blamed "a group assessed to be state-sponsored and operating out of China."
The Chinese government is yet to respond to Monday's accusations, but has previously denied Microsoft's claims of involvement.
It's rather suspect that soon after warnings of a coming '
cyberpandemic' from the Build Back Better bunch, and announcements from Britain and the US that they'd be
launching covert cyber attacks against Russia and China, we see a surge in hacks against Western businesses and infrastructure. Whilst the West is are quick to lay the blame on Russia and China, there's good reason to believe that at least some of these attacks are coming from enemies within the country:
Comment: RT reports: It's rather suspect that soon after warnings of a coming 'cyberpandemic' from the Build Back Better bunch, and announcements from Britain and the US that they'd be launching covert cyber attacks against Russia and China, we see a surge in hacks against Western businesses and infrastructure. Whilst the West is are quick to lay the blame on Russia and China, there's good reason to believe that at least some of these attacks are coming from enemies within the country: