China-linked hackers using everyday devices to hide attacks, cyberagencies warn

LONDON – International cyberagencies urged organisations on April 23 to better defend against covert networks used by China-linked hackers to conceal malicious cyberactivity, according to Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

The NCSC published the new guidance alongside industry and 15 international partners from across eight other countries: the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain.

Covert networks, usually made up of what the NCSC described as vulnerable everyday internet-connected devices such as home routers and smart devices, are used to target critical sectors globally, steal sensitive data and maintain persistent access.

“In recent years, we have seen a deliberate shift in cybergroups based in China utilising these networks to hide their malicious activity in an attempt to avoid accountability,” NCSC director of operations Paul Chichester said in a statement.

The new guidance – jointly issued with agencies that include the US Federal Bureau of Investigation – warns that attacks can be hard to detect because evidence can disappear quickly, complicating efforts to disrupt such activity.

The advisory comes a day after Mr Richard Horne, head of the NCSC, warned Britain to brace itself for a rise in cyberattacks directly or indirectly from nation states, including China, Iran and Russia.

He said his agency continues to handle about four nationally significant cyberincidents a week on average, and that the highest-impact attacks are increasingly tied to governments rather than criminal gangs alone.

Britain has also called on leading artificial intelligence companies to work with the government to build AI-powered cyberdefence capabilities to protect critical national infrastructure. REUTERS