US warns Chinese hackers attacking ‘critical’ infrastructure

State-sponsored Chinese hackers have infiltrated critical US infrastructure networks, the United States, its Western allies and Microsoft said Wednesday while warning that similar espionage attacks could be occurring globally.

Microsoft highlighted Guam, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean with a vital military outpost, as one of the targets, but said “malicious” activity had also been detected elsewhere in the United States.

The stealthy attack -- carried out by a China-sponsored actor dubbed “Volt Typhoon” since mid-2021 -- enabled long-term espionage and was likely aimed at hampering the United States if there was conflict in the region, it said.

“Microsoft assesses with moderate confidence that this Volt Typhoon campaign is pursuing development of capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises,” the statement said.

“In this campaign, the affected organizations span the communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology, and education sectors.” Microsoft’s statement coincided with an advisory released by US, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and UK authorities warning that the hacking was likely occurring globally.

“This activity affects networks across US critical infrastructure sectors, and the authoring agencies believe the actor could apply the same techniques against these and other sectors worldwide,” they said. China denied the allegations, describing the Microsoft report as “extremely unprofessional” and “scissors-and-paste work”.

“It is clear that this is a collective disinformation campaign of the Five Eyes coalition countries, initiated by the US for its geopolitical purposes,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, referring to the security alliance of the United States and its Western allies that wrote the report. “The participation of certain companies shows that aside from government organisations, the US is expanding new channels for disseminating disinformation,” she said.