Thanks to US regional strategic primacy, Australia has been virtually immune from the threat of direct military attack since the defeat of Japan in 1945. Now that is changing. In future it will no longer be militarily impossible for China to attack Australia directly. And not just China: other major regional powers, especially India and eventually perhaps Indonesia, will have the potential to launch significant attacks on Australia. That does not mean we now face a serious threat of Chinese military attack. Today the only circumstance in which Australia could…
Tag: Cyberwar
Foreign Office summons senior Chinese diplomat over ‘malicious cyber activity’
Ministers summoned a senior Chinese diplomat to the Foreign Office on Tuesday after accusing Beijing-backed hackers of a cyber-attack on the British elections watchdog and a surveillance operation on politicians. The department called in China’s chargé d’affaires and told him the UK would not tolerate “threatening” cyber-attacks. An FCDO spokesperson said the ministry had “set out the government’s unequivocal condemnation of Chinese state-affiliated organisations and individuals undertaking malicious cyber activity against UK democratic institutions and parliamentarians”. “The UK government would not tolerate such threatening activity, and would continue to take…
Tuesday briefing: Why the US and UK are going public with warnings about Chinese hacking
Good morning. You’re probably not an MP or peer on the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), so that part of yesterday’s cyber-attack revelations needn’t concern you excessively. If you are among the 40 million UK voters included on a register held by the Electoral Commission, though, I have bad news: the Chinese government has your personal details. Yesterday afternoon, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden laid out sanctions in response to the attacks – in the case of the Electoral Commission hack, more than three years after it happened. In co-ordinated…
Labour tells China it will act on interference in UK democracy
Labour has warned China that it will respond to any interference in UK democracy after the government announced fresh sanctions against hackers linked to Beijing. The warning came at the party’s first public meeting with the Chinese government since Keir Starmer became Labour leader. Catherine West, the shadow Asia minister, travelled to Beijing last week as part of a delegation of British MPs for meetings with senior Chinese government figures and businesses. On Thursday and Friday, West attended meetings with Wang Huning, one of Xi Jinping’s appointees to China’s powerful…
Chinese ‘state-affiliated’ organisations behind cyber-attacks, says Oliver Dowden – video
Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, has said Chinese state-affiliated actors have been involved in two cyber-attacks on the UK, including the hacking of the Electoral Commission, and attacks aimed at parliamentarians. Dowden said the Foreign Office would summon China’s ambassador to account for its actions The Guardian
Chinese hackers targeted Electoral Commission and politicians, say security services
Chinese state-backed hackers were responsible for two malicious digital campaigns targeting the UK’s democratic institutions and politicians, the security services have found. The UK holds China responsible for a prolonged cyber-attack on the Electoral Commission during which Beijing allegedly accessed the personal details of about 40 million voters. The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, also found that four British parliamentarians who have been critical of Beijing were targeted in a separate attack, although the activity was identified before any systems were compromised. Two individuals and a front company…
A Chinese ‘wolf warrior’ impersonated me, says Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith has said he was impersonated by a pro-China “wolf warrior” and has called for the country to be labelled a threat to UK security. The former Tory leader said on Monday that the “wolf warrior”, a term used for combative proponents of the Chinese government, had impersonated him and sent emails to politicians around the world suggesting he had changed his views about Beijing. He was speaking at a press conference with two other MPs who were briefed by security services on Monday about cyber-attacks against them…
UK has ‘very strong capabilities’ to resist cyber-attacks, says Rishi Sunak – video
Rishi Sunak has restated the government’s view that China represents an ‘epoch-defining challenge’, and said the UK has ‘very strong’ abilities to resist cyber-attacks. On a visit to Barrow-in-Furness, the prime minister said: ‘When it comes to cyber, we have the National Cyber Security Centre, which is world leading. Indeed, when I’m out and about across the world, other leaders want to learn and talk to us because they believe that our capabilities in this country are very strong’ The Guardian
Government urged to end its ‘naivety on China’ as Dowden to brief MPs on Beijing’s role in cyber-attacks – UK politics live
From 45m ago Government urged to end its ‘naivety on China’ as Dowden to brief MPs on Beijing’s role in cyber-attacks Good morning. Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are both far away from Westminster this morning. Sunak is in Barrow-in-Furness, promoting a £200m investment in nuclear submarines, and Starmer is on Anglesey, promoting Labour’s plans for offshore wind. In London it looks as if the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, will be grabbing the headlines. He is making a statement to MPs about Chinese cyber-attacks on the UK and, as…
UK ‘slow to hold China to account’ for cyber-attacks against MPs and voters
The UK government has been too slow to respond to cyber-attacks by China, the head of an international group of parliamentarians focusing on the issue has said, ahead of expected new British sanctions against Beijing. Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, is expected to announce the sanctions in the Commons on Monday, after what the UK says have been cyber-attacks against MPs and peers, as well as one targeting the Electoral Commission in which Beijing allegedly accessed the personal details of about 40 million voters. Three MPs and a peer…