China’s Xinhua News agency has reported that there is strong evidence to suggest that hackers working for the group Anonymous, who are operating in the USA have hijacked numerous computers in China and used them to attack Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The agency also went on to claim that of these attacks 87% were focused on Russia.
In late February China’s internet authorities began detecting malicious activity, claiming that the countries internet has been under “constant” attack since then. This comes after the Anonymous group declared a cyber war on Vladimir Putin’s government.
Chinese officials had revealed that the majority of cyber attacks had been traced back to the U.S., with 10 addresses in New York State being identified.
Since launching its campaign in Ukraine on February 24, Russian government websites as well as major commercial banks, companies, and media organisations have been the target of multiple cyber attacks.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, U.S. media ran reports claiming that an unnamed Chinese government backed hacking group had attacked government agencies in half a dozen US states over the last 10 months. American cyber security firm Mandiant, alleged that the Chinese hackers’ prime objective was information gathering.
China’s embassy in Washington DC insisted that Beijing “firmly oppose(s) and combat(s) cyber attacks of any kind,” dismissing the allegations of China’s involvement in the breaches as “groundless.”
