Chinese Government Rejects Spy Claims, Back Accuses United States Of Being "Empirious Of Hacking"

The Chinese government rejects claims that their spies are penetrating Western infrastructure.(photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government rejects claims that their spies are penetrating Western infrastructure and calls the joint warning issued by the United States and its allies a "collective disinformation campaign."

A spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, told reporters that the warnings issued by the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were aimed at promoting their intelligence alliance known as the "Five Eyes" and that Washington was guilty of hacking.

"The dream of hacking belongs to the United States," Mao said, as quoted by Reuters.

This reaction follows a series of warnings issued by countries Five Eyes and major US technology company Microsoft Corp, about the activities of a Chinese hacker group known as Volt Typhoon.

Although Chinese spies have long been online active against the United States and its allies, Volt Typhoon has raised special concerns because of its focus on critical infrastructure, including communication lines linking the United States to the Pacific region, analysts say. The group's focus on disguise also drew attention.

Cybersecurity firm Secureworks, which said it had responded to at least three Volt Typhoon attacks, described the group as working consistently to hide its traces.

The company also supports Western assessment of the group's origin, naming the hacker group "Bronze Silhouette" as likely to operate on behalf of Beijing.

Secureworks - a division of Dell Technologies - said Chinese spies were stepping up their game in response to "probably increasing pressure from (China) leadership to avoid public scrutiny of their cyber spy activity."