How China's Growing Cyber-Hacking Capabilities Have Raised Alarm Globally

More nations calling out Beijing due to rise in number of victims, better detection

- Lim Min Zhang

BEIJING - In October 2024, the US authorities said that a China-linked cyber group called Salt Typhoon was targeting critical American infrastructure, including major telecommunications operators.

The aim was to obtain private communications of then presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, as well as communications made by the presidential campaign staff of then US Vice-President Kamala Harris in 2024.

While suspected Chinese operations against the US are not new, this was one of the most extensive, dating back to at least 2022.

Mr Mark Warner, a top US senator who was then chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called it the "worst telecom hack in our nation's history".

It is not only Washington that has raised the alarm about Beijing's advanced persistent threat (APT) capabilities. APT actors are sophisticated hackers — usually state-sponsored — who seek to achieve long-term political goals, rather than being driven by profits or specific causes.

On July 18, Singapore's Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam said that the country's cyber authorities are dealing with an ongoing attack on the Republic's critical information infrastructure by APT group UNC3886.

He did not disclose who sponsors the group, but experts have said that it is linked to China.

As China-linked hacking groups have become more adept over the past decade, serving Beijing's goals such as by monitoring dissidents abroad to gaining access to sensitive communication of foreign leaders, countries have become increasingly willing to go public with their suspicions.

While each government will have its own considerations behind whether, and how, to name China as backing or directing these efforts, possible reasons to do so include increasing deterrence and convincing their population of the severity of the threat, which some experts say has grown in scale and sophistication.