Britain And The US Compact Highlight Increasing Cyber Threats From China

Cybersecurity illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Chris Roberts)

JAKARTA - The United States and Britain on Tuesday warned of an increase in cyber threats from China, with Washington's cyber chiefs assessing Beijing is capable of causing chaos while London warns of challenges that determine the times.

Anxiety is increasing in the United States and Europe over China's alleged cyber activity and espionage, which China has firmly denied.

"Childs pose a real and increasing cyber risk to Britain," said UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) Director Anne Keast-Butler at a security conference in Birmingham City, England, as reported by Reuters on May 15.

He said the response to Beijing's activities was GCHQ's top priority, with China's coercive and destabilizing actions threatening international norms.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday Britain faced threats from "authoritarian state figures such as Russia, Iran, North Korea and China".

On the same day, the British prosecutor charged three people for assisting the Hong Kong foreign intelligence service in the UK. China considers the case just a fabrication.

Britain said on Tuesday it had summoned China's Ambassador to say cyberattacks and reports of espionage relations were unacceptable.

Keast-Butler, who was appointed head of GCHQ last year, is in line with PM Sunak who said in the next few years it would be dangerous and transformational.

"Russia and Iran are direct threats, but China is a challenge that 'determines the times'," he said.

On the same occasion, US National Cyber Director Harry Coker said Chinese military hackers avoided US defenses in cyberspace and targeted US interests in "an unprecedented scale".

"In crisis or conflict scenarios, China can use their cyber capabilities to bring disaster to civilian infrastructure and hinder US military action," he said.

US officials confronted Beijing last month over a cyber espionage campaign dubbed "Volt Typhoon", in which Chinese hackers broke into dozens of critical American infrastructure organizations, using a wide global network consisting of personal computers and servers that have been compromised.

FBI Director Christopher Wray argues that it is related to China's broader intention to deter the US from defending Taiwan. However, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Typhoon Volt had nothing to do with the Chinese Government.

Wang Wenbin on Tuesday said Britain had repeatedly exaggerated accusations of spying and Chinese cyberattacks.