Chinese spies have breached hundreds of U.S. government agency networks in a cyberattack, according to reports.

Multiple U.S. Government Agencies Hit by Cyberattack

Reports have emerged stating that several U.S. government agencies have fallen victim to a cyberattack. Meanwhile, it appears that Chinese spies have successfully infiltrated numerous public and private networks worldwide.

Government Agencies Affected

• The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that it is providing support to federal agencies impacted by intrusions in their MOVEit applications.
• The specific government agencies affected and the identity of the culprits remain unknown. However, a ransomware group claiming to speak Russian has taken credit for the campaign, which also targeted other entities globally.

Response from CISA Director

CISA Director Jen Easterly, in an interview with MSNBC, explained that the targeted software is widely used by agencies and companies worldwide. She emphasized the importance of collaboration with businesses to mitigate such risks.

“You know, these vulnerabilities are pretty common in software, and our job is to work with businesses to ensure they have the resources and tools to mitigate that risk,” she said. “Right now, we’re focused specifically on those federal agencies that may be impacted, and we’re working hand-in-hand with them to be able to mitigate that risk. We understand that there are businesses, though, around the world. It’s another ransomware actor known as Clop Ransomware, and they’re basically taking data and looking to extort it.”

Chinese Hackers Conduct Massive Cyberattack

Separately, cybersecurity firm Mandiant, owned by Google, has revealed that it believes state-backed Chinese hackers orchestrated a large-scale cyberattack on numerous private and public networks globally.

“Mandiant assesses with high confidence that [a suspected China-nexus actor] conducted espionage activity in support of the People’s Republic of China,” the organization stated. “While Mandiant has not attributed this activity to a previously known threat group at this time, we have identified several infrastructure and malware code overlaps that provide us with a high degree of confidence that this is a China-nexus espionage operation.”

The Chinese hackers primarily targeted entities related to high policy priorities for the People’s Republic of China, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, including Taiwan.

Global Impact

ABC News reported that the victims of the Chinese cyberattack span across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.