China accuses US of launching advanced cyberattacks names alleged NSA agents

pppppppManage your accountppppBy Laurie Chen Farah Master and Liz LeeppBEIJING Reuters China accused the United States National Security Agency NSA on Tuesday of launching advanced cyberattacks during the Asian Winter Games in February targeting essential industriesppPolice in the northeastern city of Harbin said three alleged NSA agents to a wanted list and also accused the University of California and Virginia Tech of being involved in the attacks after carrying out investigations according to a report by state news agency Xinhua on TuesdayppThe NSA agents were identified by Xinhua as Katheryn A Wilson Robert J Snelling and Stephen W Johnson The three were also found to have repeatedly carried out cyber attacks on Chinas critical information infrastructure and participated in cyber attacks on Huawei and other enterprisesppIt did not specify how the two American universities were involvedppThe US Embassy in China did not respond to an emailed request for commentppChinas foreign ministry later confirmed the attacks and said Beijing had raised its concerns with the United StatesppWe urge the US to take a responsible attitude on the issue of cyber security and stop unprovoked smears and attacks on China ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular news briefingppThe detailed allegations come as the worlds two largest economies spiral deeper into a trade war that has already spurred travel warnings for Chinese tourists going to the US and halted imports of US films into ChinappThe US National Security Agency NSA launched cyber attacks against important industries such as energy transportation water conservancy communications and national defence research institutions in Heilongjiang province Xinhua said citing the Harbin city public security bureauppThe attacks had the intention of sabotaging Chinas critical information infrastructure causing social disorder and stealing important confidential information it addedppANONYMOUS SERVERSppXinhua said the NSA operations took place during the Winter Games and were suspected of activating specific preinstalled backdoors in Microsoft Windows operating systems on specific devices in HeilongjiangppIn order to cover its tracks the NSA purchased IP addresses in different countries and anonymously rented a large number of network servers including in Europe and Asia Xinhua saidppThe NSA intended to use cyberattacks to steal the personal data of participating athletes the news agency said adding that the cyber attacks reached a peak from the first ice hockey game on February 3ppThe attacks targeted information systems such as the Asian Winter Games registration system and stored sensitive information about the identities of relevant personnel of the event Xinhua saidppThe US routinely accuses Chinese statebacked hackers of launching attacks against its critical infrastructure and government bodiesppLast month Washington announced indictments against a slew of alleged Chinese hackers who targeted the US Defense Intelligence Agency the US Department of Commerce and the foreign ministries of Taiwan South Korea India and IndonesiappBeijing denies all involvement in overseas cyber espionageppAfter years of being accused by Western governments of cyberattacks and industrial espionage in the past two years several Chinese organisations and government organs have accused the United States and its allies of similar behaviourppIn December China said it found and dealt with two US cyber attacks on Chinese tech firms to steal trade secrets since May 2023 but did not name the agency involvedppReporting by Laurie Chen Liz Lee Qiaoyi Li and Colleen Howe in Beijing and Farah Master in Hong Kong Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Saad Sayeedp