According to US media, Chinese hackers have broken into the US ambassador’s email account in Beijing. However, they are said not to have captured any secret information. The US government confirmed the cyber attack – China rejected the allegations.
Alleged Chinese hackers apparently had access to emails from the US Ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, in a cyber attack. This is reported by the US newspaper “Wall Street Journal” and cites sources in the US government. Another target, according to the report, was Daniel Kritenbrink, who is in charge of East Asia at the US State Department and was recently in China with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
No secret information is said to have been stolen during the attack. At the beginning of last week, the US software group Microsoft announced that a group of Chinese hackers had penetrated the e-mail systems of some of its customers in order to gather information.
“Fit ours security procedures at”
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller later confirmed the attack without giving details. “We noticed exceptional activity last month and immediately did two things: back up our systems and let Microsoft know. For cybersecurity reasons, we don’t discuss how we responded.” The incident is still being investigated. “We continuously monitor our networks and adjust our security procedures.”
The hackers are said to have intercepted emails from Trade Secretary Gina Raimondo. She actually wanted to travel to China as the next member of the US government. The United States government and the FBI regularly warn of Chinese cyber attacks. These are ubiquitous and extremely dangerous.
Superpower ratio is bad
China rejects the allegations as lies. Instead, the Chinese Foreign Ministry last week accused the United States of threatening China with hacking attacks. The US is the largest hacking empire in the world and a global data thief, said spokesman Wang Wenbin.
The relationship between the two superpowers is at its worst in decades. Several US government officials were recently in Beijing for talks. However, the positions differ widely on the major issues, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, China’s military threats towards Taiwan, Chinese human rights violations or the US microchip restrictions on China. It is not foreseeable that this will change.