President Joe Biden’s White House on Monday publicly identified China as responsible for a series of cyber attacks across the world but did not announce any retaliatory actions.
A senior administration official told reporters in a phone briefing on Sunday evening China’s Ministry of State Security used contract hackers to launch cyber operations across the world — including the recently revealed Microsoft Exchange hack.
“Their operations include criminal activities, such as cyber-enabled extortion, crypto-jacking, and theft from victims around the world for financial gain,” the official noted, referring to China.
The Biden administration teamed up with the European Union, NATO, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Japan to condemn China’s actions, arguing it showed a united front globally against China’s activities in cyberspace.
“No one action can change China’s behavior in cyberspace and neither can just one country acting on its own,” the official noted.
With China Joe now in the White House, Xi Jinping delivered a violent hour-long speech on Thursday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of China's Communist Party. https://t.co/bCJWQbZQ8e
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 1, 2021
Typically, the United States also announces retaliatory sanctions when publicly identifying a hacking attack from a foreign government.
In April, the Biden White House officially blamed the Russian government for the Solar Winds attack on government agencies and announced a series of economic sanctions against Russian interests.
But the Biden White House emphasized that their identification and shaming of China for the attacks together with global allies would send a strong message to the Chinese Communist Party.
“We felt like the core takeaway here is that we’re making it clear to China that for as long as these irresponsible, malicious cyber activities continue, it will unite countries around the world who are all victims to call them out, promote network defense, and cybersecurity working together in that way,” the official said.
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