Czech Republic accuses China of 'malicious cyber campaign' against its foreign ministry

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PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic has accused China of being “responsible” for cyberattacks against a a communication network of its Foreign Ministry, officials said on Wednesday.

The Foreign Ministry in Prague said the malicious activities started in 2022 and targeted the country’s critical infrastructure, adding it believed the Advanced Persistent Threat 31, or APT31, hacking group, which is associated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security, was behind the campaign.

It was not immediately clear what specific information were seized or what damage was caused by the attacks. The Czech ministry said a new communication system has already been put in place.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said in a separate statement that his ministry summoned China's ambassador to Prague to make it clear to Beijing “that such activities have serious impacts on mutual relations.”

"The government of the Czech Republic strongly condemns this malicious cyber campaign against its critical infrastructure,” the statement said. “Such behavior undermines the credibility of the People’s Republic of China and contradicts its public declarations.”

The Chinese Embassy dismissed the Czech accusations as “groundless.” It said China fights "all forms of cyber attacks and does not support, promote or tolerate hacker attacks."

The United States denounced the Chinese activities and called on China to stop it immediately, the U.S. Embassy in Prague said in a statement. It said ATP31 previously targeted U.S. and foreign politicians, foreign policy experts and others.

“APT31 has also stolen trade secrets and intellectual property, and targeted entities in some of America’s most vital critical infrastructure sectors, including the Defense Industrial Base, information technology, and energy sectors,” the embassy said.

NATO and the European Union also condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with the Czechs.

“We observe with increasing concern the growing pattern of malicious cyber activities stemming from the People’s Republic of China,” NATO said.

“This attack is an unacceptable breach of international norms,” Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, said. “The EU will not tolerate hostile cyber actions.”

In a separated cyberattack in 2017, the email account of then Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek and the accounts of dozens of ministry officials were successfully hacked. Officials said the attack was sophisticated, and experts believed it was done by a foreign state, which was not named then.

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Sam McNeil contributed to this report from Paris.