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The Czech Republic's government has officially linked a malicious cyberattack on its Ministry of Foreign Affairs to a hacker group associated with China, known as APT31.
As stated in a release from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this attack, which has focused on unclassified networks and critical infrastructure since 2022, has connections to China's Ministry of State Security. Czech officials, supported by NATO and EU allies, have firmly condemned the incident and called for accountability. "Following the national attribution process, the Government of the Czech Republic has identified the People's Republic of China as being responsible for a malicious cyber campaign targeting one of the unclassified networks of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The malicious activity, which lasted from 2022 and affected an institution designated as Czech critical infrastructure, was perpetrated by the cyberespionage actor APT31 that is publicly associated with the Ministry of State Security", stated the release. "An extensive investigation into the incident, which led to a high degree of certainty about the responsible actor, was conducted jointly by the Security Information Service, Military Intelligence, Office for Foreign Relations and Information and National Cyber and Information Security Agency", stated the release. The Czech Republic's government has strongly denounced the harmful cyber campaign targeting its essential infrastructure. Such actions diminish the credibility of the People's Republic of China and go against its public statements. These activities violate the standards of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace that all UN Member states have endorsed. We urge the People's Republic of China to comply with these standards and principles, to stop such assaults, and to implement all necessary measures to resolve this issue, stated the announcement. The EU, along with its Member States and NATO Allies, expresses support for Czechia in light of this cyber incident, according to the announcement. The Czech government has blocked an investment from a Chinese company in a satellite station due to concerns regarding possible espionage, as reported by TVP World. The firm, Emposat, based in Beijing, planned to set up a satellite dish in the village of Vlkos, located in the Moravia region of eastern Czechia, as per the report from TVP World. (ANI)
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