China rejects charges about Microsoft cyber-attack

CHINA has denied allegations of carrying out a major cyber-attack against tech giant Microsoft, calling such claims “fabricated.”

On Monday (19), the US and other western countries including the UK, EU, New Zealand and Australia accused China of hacking Microsoft Exchange - a popular email platform used by companies worldwide, BBC reported.

"The US has mustered its allies to carry out unreasonable criticisms against China on the issue of cybersecurity," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

Microsoft's Exchange system powers the email of major corporations, small businesses and public bodies worldwide. The hack affected at least 30,000 organisations.

The software firm has blamed a Chinese cyber-espionage group for exploiting a vulnerability, allowing hackers to remotely access email inboxes.

The group, known as Hafnium, was found by Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Centre to be state-sponsored and operating out of China.

The UK Foreign Office said the Chinese government had "ignored repeated calls to end its reckless campaign, instead allowing state-backed actors to increase the scale of their attacks".

US president Joe Biden said the Chinese government may not have been carrying out the attacks itself, but was "protecting those who are doing it. And maybe even accommodating them being able to do it".

The US Department of Justice on Monday (19) announced criminal charges against four hackers linked to China's Ministry of State Security.

They were connected to a long-term campaign targeting foreign governments and entities in at least a dozen countries, it said.