Chinese hackers had access to Canadian government systems for years

Date:
Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:55:41 +0000

Description:
For half a decade, Chinese spies have been monitoring government networks and targeting people.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

Chinese hackers have been dwelling on computers, networks, and other IT infrastructure of the Canadian government for five years, monitoring - and stealing - sensitive information, experts have warned.

This is according to National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025-2026, a paper published by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre), the country's technical authority on cybersecurity, and part of the
Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE).

The paper claims, the state-sponsored threat actors were engaged in cyber-espionage with the goal of gaining strategic, economic, and diplomatic advantages. Targeting political enemies

PRC state-sponsored cyber threat actors persistently conduct cyber espionage against federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous
government networks in Canada, the paper reads. PRC cyber threat actors have compromised and maintained access to multiple government networks over the
past five years, collecting communications and other valuable information.

The paper concludes that all known federal government compromises have been resolved, but stresses that the threat actors dedicated significant time and resources to learn about the target networks, suggesting that there may be remnants of the attacks.

The Chinese were not just looking, either. When they saw an appropriate
target - they struck. Apparently, government officials critical of the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were attacked, back in 2021. Namely, members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) were targeted with emails designed to place trackers onto the victims devices, for network reconnaissance.

The Chinese seem mostly interested in advanced robotics, quantum computing,
6G networks, intelligence computing centers, Web3 (blockchain), and advanced aviation. The report also concludes that private sector organizations (mostly in these industries) were also in the crosshairs.

The news is hardly shocking, as the Canadian government recently issued a statement saying Chinese threat actors ran multiple reconnaissance scans throughout 2024, targeting Government of Canada departments and agencies, and includes federal political parties, the House of Commons and Senate.

They also targeted dozens of organizations, including democratic
institutions, critical infrastructure, the defense sector, media
organizations, think tanks and NGOs, the statement said.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/chinese-hackers-had-access-to-canadian- government-systems-for-years

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