Australia, backed by key allies including the US, UK and Japan, has accused a Chinese state-backed cyber hacking group of targeting the country’s government and private sector networks and detailed its methods.
The move to name and detail the actions of the group APT40 by the Australian Signals Directorate is unprecedented and was made less than a month after Li Qiang, China’s premier, visited Australia to rebuild ties.
The statement was backed by security and intelligence agencies from the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, South Korea and Japan.
They cited a “shared understanding” of the threat posed by a Chinese “state-sponsored cyber group and their current threat to Australian networks”.
