Tel Aviv: A group of hackers affiliated with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has launched its largest-ever cyberattack on Israel. Chinese hackers have targeted Israeli defence companies as well as government offices. The Chinese hackers pretended to be Iranian hackers to launch cyberattacks on Israel.
According to a report released by the US cybersecurity company FireEye, the cyberattacks have hit companies related to Israel’s defence sector, government offices, the technology sector and communications systems. The cyber-attacks began two years ago. However, FireEye has not openly accused China of being responsible for the cyberattacks.
The company’s threat analyst, however, has firmly stated that hackers linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army and intelligence agency were responsible for the cyberattacks as these were associated with China’s interests. Therefore, the analysts said the Chinese hackers were likely behind the attacks. The Israeli media has published the FireEye report and criticised China for launching the cyberattacks on Israel, calling it a big mistake.
Chinese hackers have left a trail of Iranian hackers so that their identities remain unexposed. The analysts also highlighted that the Farsi language was deliberately used in some places in their interactions. The Chinese hackers did so to exploit tensions between Israel and Iran. Jens Monrad, an analyst at FireEye, explained that there had been similar ‘false flag’ cyberattacks before.
A few days ago, Chinese hackers had targeted the US-based Microsoft Exchange servers. The United States had taken serious cognisance of the cyberattacks and warned China about it. Also, the United States has openly accused the perpetrators of being Chinese state-sponsored hackers.
The Chinese military had created an independent army of about 50,000 to 100,000 hackers a few years ago. The cyber army has been tasked with launching cyberattacks on government, military, commercial and infrastructure facilities in other countries to weaken their systems or steal information. Among them, the UNC215 group of Chinese hackers has been in the news for the past few years.
The UNC215 group of Chinese hackers was revealed to have launched cyberattacks in the US, Europe and India. A few months ago, a group of Chinese hackers were also accused of being behind a cyberattack on a power grid in Mumbai, India’s financial capital. China’s cyberattack received backlash from across the globe. Moreover, international analysts claim that China has made a serious mistake by launching cyberattacks on Israel.
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