The European Union and the Czech Republic have slammed a group associated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security for conducting a “malicious cyber campaign” targeting the country’s foreign ministry.
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The ministry said the attack started in 2022 and “affected an institution designated as Czech critical infrastructure”, without specifying what had been targeted.
“Following the national attribution process, the government of the Czech Republic has identified the People’s Republic of China as being responsible for malicious cyber campaign targeting one of the unclassified networks of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the ministry said, naming the “cyberespionage actor APT31 that is publicly associated with the Ministry of State Security” as the culprit.
The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the bloc “holds a Chinese state-backed actor responsible for a malicious cyber campaign targeting Czechia … this is a clear and unacceptable violation of international norms”.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said the attack was “detected during the intrusion”, and that the Chinese ambassador to Czechia had been summoned “to make clear that such hostile actions have serious consequences for our bilateral relations”.
“China is interfering in our society – through manipulation, propaganda and cyberattacks,” Lipavsky said.
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