Finland is the latest country to denounce APT31 for government cyber espionage
The list of countries blaming China for a recent wave of cyberespionage is growing, with Finland the latest country to accuse Chinese state-sponsored hackers of being behind an attack on government systems.
Just this week, the United Kingdom and the United States blamed the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for a cyber campaign targeting US senators, British parliamentarians, and the UK electoral commission, among other high-profile government targets.
The group behind the attacks is Wuhan-based APT31, which is believed to have ties to the People’s Republic of China.
Despite not being affected by the group, both Australia and New Zealand were also quick to condemn the PRC for the recent campaigns. New Zealand also revealed that another group, APT40, had attacked its parliament in 2021, and that the investigation allowed them to “confidently link” the group to the People’s Republic of China.
Now, Finland’s National Investigation Bureau has also reported the People’s Republic of China, revealing that APT31 had attacked its parliamentary information systems.
The attack reportedly occurred between 2020 and 2021, and the National Bureau of Investigation and the Finnish police worked closely on the investigation which, according to the head of the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Aku Limnéll of the National Bureau of Investigation, It has been a long process. , a tough and time-consuming process, as it uncovered a “complex criminal infrastructure.”
Now, Finland has confirmed that APT31 was behind the attacks and identified a suspect linked to the incident.
“The alleged crimes investigated have been aggravated espionage, aggravated illegal access to an information system and aggravated violation of the secrecy of communications,” Limnéll said.
Finland has not announced any sanctions against the People’s Republic of China or APT31, nor has Australia; however, the latter faces calls to do so.
While a joint statement from Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia fully supported the UK and US in their denunciation of China Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister James Paterson said that, like the two affected nations, Australia should impose sanctions on China.
“Now I’ve just seen… that the Foreign Secretary has issued a statement of rhetorical support for that. But the question Penny Wong must answer today is: will she use the powers granted to her by the Magnitsky legislation that Parliament gave her to also join our allies in sanctioning these individuals so that there are real costs and real consequences for their behavior? he told Sky News.
By way of context, the Magnitsky legislation refers to laws that allow the introduction of sanctions against nations that have committed human rights violations or corrupt activities.
“It is shockingly evil behavior to attack members of Parliament and electoral systems in democracies,” Paterson continued.
“That is not the act of a friend. And yet it appears that Chinese state-sponsored hackers have been doing just that in the case of the UK and New Zealand.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that they had done the same thing here in Australia, although that hasn’t been announced publicly today.”
