China Accuses U.S. Of Launching Advanced Cyber Attacks During Asian Winter Games

The Chinese police accused the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States and two American universities of launching “advanced” cyberattacks targeting essential industries in February, during the Asian Winter Games.

According to Al Jazeera, the state news agency Xinhua shared a report this Tuesday revealing that officials from the police of the city of Harbin blame three agents from the NSA, as well as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the University of California, as collaborators for recent malicious intrusions.

The Chinese police explain the cyberattacks were held “against important industries such as energy, transportation, water conservancy, communications, and national defence research institutions in Heilongjiang province.” However, they didn’t provide details on how the universities were involved.

According to Reuters, the Chinese police revealed the names of the NSA agents, and shared that, according to its investigation, the individuals have “repeatedly carried out cyber attacks on China’s critical information infrastructure and participated in cyber attacks on Huawei and other enterprises.”

The police’s report adds that the cyberattacks had “the intention of sabotaging China’s critical information infrastructure, causing social disorder, and stealing important confidential information.”

Xinhua’s article reveals that the NSA attack was possible as they suspect the agents used “pre-installed backdoors” through specific devices with Microsoft Windows used during the Winter Games and used different IP addresses purchased and rented network services in Asia and Europe to cover tracks.

The NSA allegedly attacked the Asian Winter Games registration system to get private data from people at the event.

The US Embassy in China hasn’t made any comments regarding the accusations, but China’s foreign ministry has confirmed the information shared in the report.

“We urge the U.S. to take a responsible attitude on the issue of cyber security and … stop unprovoked smears and attacks on China,” said Lin Jian, a ministry spokesperson, in a recent news briefing.

The report on the cyberattack comes at a time of tension following the recent imposition of tariffs by the United States on China, and joins the list of recent accusations of attacks that the two countries have made against each other.