China cyber-attacks explained: who is behind the hacking operation against the US and UK?

The US and UK have imposed sanctions on individuals and groups that they say targeted politicians, journalists and critics of Beijing in an extensive cyber espionage campaign – allegedly operated by an arm of China’s ministry of state security. The scale of the operation was revealed on Monday, although some of the attacks have been previously reported on. On Tuesday, New Zealand blamed “state-sponsored” Chinese hackers for a 2021 cyber-attack that infiltrated sensitive government computer systems. Who is behind the cyber-attacks? Both the UK and US point the finger at…

GCHQ warns of fresh threat from Chinese state-sponsored hackers

The UK’s cybersecurity agency has urged operators of critical national infrastructure, including energy and telecommunications networks, to prevent Chinese state-sponsored hackers from hiding on their systems. The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, issued the warning after it emerged that a Chinese hacking group known as Volt Typhoon had targeted a US military outpost in the Pacific Ocean. The so-called Five Eyes intelligence group – the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – issued a joint notice detailing the nature of the Volt Typhoon threat and how…

UK cyber security chief to warn of China’s rise as a technology superpower

China poses an “epoch-defining” challenge to the west, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is reportedlyto warn. Lindy Cameron, who is the director of the GCHQ arm, will use a speech in Belfast this week to warn the UK and allies of the “dramatic rise of China as a technology superpower”. The remarks, to be delivered this week at the CyberUK annual conference, come as the US, the UK and western nations attempt to navigate the growing economic and political reach of China amid concerns about the…

Size of UK’s nuclear submarine fleet could double under Aukus plans

The UK’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet could double in size as plans were revealed for the new “Aukus” vessels to be based on a British design. In a bid to counter the growing threat from China, the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, vowed alongside his US and Australian counterparts to stand “shoulder to shoulder” to protect peace in the Indo-Pacific given its implications for security across the world. A “historic” deal 18 months in the making was announced by the three leaders in Point Loma, San Diego, that will see new…

Of course China’s balloon was spying. States all spy on each other – and we all benefit | Jonathan Steele

Long ago, in May 1960, an American U-2 spy plane took off from Pakistan to fly at high altitude across the Soviet Union as part of a mission to photograph key facilities and military sites on behalf of the CIA. The Russians saw it and shot it down. The pilot, Gary Powers, managed to descend by parachute and was arrested. In Washington, the Eisenhower administration lied about his mission, claiming the U-2 was a “weather plane” that had strayed off course after its pilot had “difficulties with his oxygen equipment”…

Chinese cameras leave British police vulnerable to spying, says watchdog

British police are leaving themselves open to spying by Beijing because of their reliance on Chinese-made cameras, according to a report from the government’s independent watchdog on surveillance. Most forces across England and Wales use camera equipment that is either made in China or contains important Chinese components, the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner has warned. Fraser Sampson, the publicly appointed commissioner, warned that such equipment poses both security and ethical concerns, at a time when tensions with Beijing are already high. The report comes a day after the prime…

Newport semiconductor factory: ‘Losing these jobs would be devastating’

The clean room in Newport, south Wales, is the size of a football field, but in the industry they call it a ballroom. Workers in full bodysuits move silicon wafers from one end to another in a series of careful steps. The 20cm slices of silicon are rigorously cleaned in chemical baths before light is used to draw precise patterns that are then etched out. It all takes place in an orange gloom to prevent light-sensitive chemicals from reacting. After robots and people test for defects, the owner Nexperia ships…

How MI5 uncovered a Chinese ‘agent’ in parliament

Last week Britain’s security services issued an extraordinary warning to parliament naming Christine Lee, a well-known lawyer in London’s Chinese community, as an agent working covertly for the Chinese government. It is the first time MI5 has issued an “interference alert” relating to China and it cast a spotlight on the Labour MP Barry Gardiner, whose office received £584,177 worth of donations from Lee. Gardiner said he had been “liaising with our security services for a number of years about Christine Lee”. He added: “All the donations were properly reported…

The importance of being allowed to act up | Brief letters

The inconclusive ending of David Baddiel’s article (‘Why don’t Jews play Jews?’ – David Baddiel on the row over Helen Mirren as Golda Meir, 12 January) is unavoidable, because the only way to achieve consistency is to revert to the assumption that actors can act. Take the case of the late Richard Griffiths’s posh gay Uncle Monty in Withnail and I. He came from an underprivileged background and was married to a woman. To have disqualified him on the basis of the latter but not the former seems risibly arbitrary.Peter…

MI5 accuses lawyer of trying to influence politicians on behalf of China

A security warning from MI5 has been circulated to MPs and peers accusing the lawyer Christine Lee of seeking to improperly influence parliamentarians on behalf of China’s ruling Communist party. The “interference alert” from the security service names and pictures Christine Ching Kui Lee as an individual who has allegedly “knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist party”. The notice added that the UFWD “is seeking to covertly interfere in UK politics through establishing links with established and aspiring…