China’s state-backed hackers have launched unprecedented cyberattacks across Europe, including breaches of the UK Electoral Commission, targeted attacks on British and French lawmakers, and a major data leak affecting 270,000 UK military personnel. French legislators opposing Xi Jinping became targets of APT31, while U.S. prosecutors indicted Chinese hackers linked to the Ministry of State Security. Moldova also faces continuous hybrid warfare involving Russian and Chinese operations. British officials warn that China is acting as a hostile power, engaging in information warfare amounting to a “state of war,” a threat Japan likewise faces today.

China’s Communist Party is responsible for hacking our nation’s military, cyberattacks on the election commission, and cyberattacks on British and French members of parliament.
May 13, 2024

Kohyu Nishimura
@kohyu1952
He writes: Since Mr. Masahiro Miyazaki wrote about this matter in his newsletter after the holidays, I will introduce it.

A vast amount of data from Western countries has been stolen by China.
Not only the UK and France, but also Moldova suffered from hackers and fake information.

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Japan, the United States, and Taiwan are not the only targets.
Due to China’s hacker attacks, massive amounts of data have been stolen from major European countries, and election interference using fake information targeting politicians continues.
In the United Kingdom, Deputy Prime Minister Dowden stated in a speech in the House of Commons that “China is responsible for the cyberattacks on members of parliament and national electoral bodies that were leaked to the press. The UK judges that these actions demonstrate a clear and sustained pattern of hostility by China.”
Specifically, the British Electoral Commission’s systems were “highly likely to have been compromised” by a Chinese-affiliated cyber organization between 2021 and 2022.
Authorities announced that “the names and addresses of roughly 40 million British voters, which could be used for large-scale espionage activities or intimidation of individuals regarded as dissidents or critics in the UK, have fallen into the hands of Chinese government hackers.”

On May 6, 2024, Xi Jinping visited Paris and staged a display of closeness with President Macron.
French lawmakers who voiced objections became targets of cyberattacks by China’s hacker unit ‘APT31.’
Seven French parliamentarians requested a judicial investigation.
This followed the U.S. Department of Justice indicting Chinese hackers connected with the Ministry of State Security for criminal activities committed in France.

According to the U.S. indictment, in 2021 the hackers sent more than 1,000 emails to over 400 individual accounts connected to IPAC, attempting to collect data on their internet activity and digital devices.
Targets included former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, British Minister for Europe Nusrat Ghani, and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský.

French Senator Olivier Cadic criticized, saying, “We cannot allow such cyberattack activities targeting representatives elected by the people of France to go unchallenged.”
On May 7, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that it had suffered a cyberattack believed to be by China, leaking personal information of tens of thousands of soldiers.
The targeted system was a payroll system run by a contractor, containing names and bank account details of active and former service members.
All units in the UK military except the special forces were affected, amounting to 270,000 individuals.
However, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps did not directly accuse China.

Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey named IT giant Sopra Steria as the parent company of the hacked software.
Its subsidiary SSCL provides payroll, personnel, and pension services for 230,000 military personnel and 2 million veterans and reservists.
Indeed, as Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Caroline Nokes stated, “China is an ‘enemy’ of the United Kingdom.”
Kearns continued, “The Chinese Communist Party is responsible for hacking our military, cyberattacks on the election commission, and cyberattacks on members of parliament in the UK and France.”
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in London responded with great insolence, claiming, “These are entirely fabricated malicious slanders,” and demanded “an end to the anti-China political farce in the UK.”

▼ Refugees from Ukraine have poured into Moldova. On top of that…
For Moldova, Russian hacker attacks and fake information are a daily reality.
Located on the border with Ukraine, with many Russian speakers and flows of Ukrainian refugees entering via Odesa (as an aside, the author also traveled by bus from Chişinău to Odesa. The fare was about 1,000 yen. Normally it takes about two hours, but avoiding the ‘Transnistria Republic’ required two hours at the border, and although the bus left at 10 a.m., it was past 3 p.m. when he reached the hotel in Odesa).

In Moldova, a presidential election and a national referendum on EU accession will be held in October.
About 60 percent of Moldovans oppose Russia and support closer ties with Western countries.
However, the unrecognized ‘Transnistria Republic’ remains inside Moldova, with Russian soldiers stationed there.

Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of State Security, which adheres to the policy that “attack is the best defense,” warned Chinese citizens stationed overseas to “be cautious of ‘friendly’ individuals who approach you in various ways to gather information and possibly recruit overseas agents.”
“There are Chinese citizens stationed abroad who, after falling into traps, lose caution and leak state secrets, are coerced into betraying national interests, or willingly become accomplices of foreign intelligence agencies—posing potential threats to national security,” it said.
China’s state security authorities urged long-term overseas Chinese residents to “maintain a calm and rational attitude in interactions with others to avoid risks.”
China revised its Anti-Espionage Law, which took effect on July 1, 2023.

Quotation
Kohyu Nishimura
@kohyu1952
May 8
“Judging from China’s tremendous cyberattacks against the UK, we must accept that we are in a state of war. Such statements are gaining attention in Britain, but the Japanese people must understand that Japan is in exactly the same situation.”