New Zealand joins US and UK in claims of China-backed cyberespionage

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Hackers linked to the Chinese government launched a state-sponsored operation that targeted New Zealand’s Parliament in 2021, the country’s security minister said on Tuesday.

New Zealand’s allegation comes a day after American and British authorities announced a set of criminal charges and sanctions against seven hackers, all believed to be living in China, who targeted U.S. officials, journalists, corporations, pro-democracy activists and the U.K.’s election watchdog.

“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.

Collins said the agency had also established links between a state-sponsored actor linked to China and malicious cyber activity targeting parliamentary entities in New Zealand.

“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 says.

“Fortunately, in this instance, the NCSC worked with the impacted organizations to contain the activity and remove the actor shortly after they were able to access the network.”

The networks hacked contained important information that enables the effective operation of the New Zealand government.

Collins said New Zealand will not follow the U.S. and U.K. in sanctioning China as New Zealand does not have a law allowing such penalties, nor were there plans to introduce legislation.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters confirmed New