China dismisses Taiwan's hacking allegations as 'purely malicious slander’

China dismissed Taiwan’s allegations that hacking groups linked to the Chinese government infiltrated at least 10 government agencies and around 6,000 email accounts to steal important data. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a news conference on August 20 that the allegations levelled by Taiwanese officials are “purely malicious slanders.”

Zhao said that the purpose of such allegations is to increase cross-strait antagonism for seeking political self-interest. He claimed that China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity and one of the victims of cyberattacks, adding that the government has always cracked down on cyberattacks launched in China or using China’s network infrastructure in accordance with the law. 

On August 19, Liu Chia-zung, the deputy director of the Taiwan Investigation Bureau’s Cyber Security Investigation Office, told reporters that Chinese hacking groups have been infiltrating government agencies and their information service providers for a long time. Liu said that the hackers were aiming to acquire important government documents and data, alerting that some government data might have been leaked.

Taiwan said that two hacking groups involved in the cyberattack - Blacktech and Taidoor - were backed by the Chinese Communist Party. The attacks were claimed to have started in 2018 with 10 government agencies being the victim, however, the officials have not been to identify the alleged compromised data.

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US indicted two Chinese hackers

Last month, the US Justice Department charged two Chinese hackers of targeting intellectual property and confidential business information, including COVID-19 research. The hackers working with Guangdong State Security Department allegedly hacked into the computer systems of hundreds of victim companies.

Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, who were trained in computer applications technologies at the same Chinese university, were indicted on 11 counts. Justice Department said that the duo conducted a hacking campaign lasting more than ten years, targeting companies in countries with high technology industries, including the US, Japan, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and the UK among others.

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