Daily London
It comes after comments from Australia’s top spy chief Mike Burgess, who yesterday identified two hacking groups which he said were capable of tapping into Australia’s critical communications network and having a “disruptive [and] destructive” impact on the country.
He did not explicitly name the Chinese government, but said “one nation state — no prizes for guessing which one — [is] conducting multiple attempts to scan and penetrate critical infrastructure in Australia and other Five Eyes countries.”
However, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry strongly denied Burgess’ claims, asking for a full retraction and saying this was not the first time Burgess had attacked China.
“In recent months, the Australian official you mentioned has repeatedly hurled attacks at China, spread disinformation and deliberately sowed division and confrontation,” Guo Jiakun told a journalist at a press conference in Beijing today.
“It’s hoped that the Australian official can stop making irresponsible statements.”
The two groups Burgess was referring to are called Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon, and Asio’s Director-General said espionage breaches cause a $12.5 billion hit to the economy per year.
“These groups are hackers working for Chinese government intelligence and their military,” he said at an ASIC conference in Melbourne on Wednesday.
“Both groups were involved in the theft of sensitive information, but the real danger was the threat of sabotage – disruption to critical infrastructure.”
Jiakun said China had lodged a protest with Australia, and hinted future outbursts of this nature could hinder the relationship between the two countries, which have been at loggerheads over trade and defence.
“China firmly opposes it and has protested with Australia,” he said.
“[Burgess should] do more things conducive to the healthy development of China-Australia relations.”
