The United States on Monday officially accused the Chinese government of perpetrating the massive Microsoft breach earlier this year, charging four hackers associated with the country’s Ministry of State Security and calling out the government’s “pattern of malicious cyber activity.” The Chinese government’s “pattern of irresponsible behavior in cyberspace is inconsistent with its stated objective of being seen as a responsible leader in the world,” the White House said in a statement Monday, in coordination with allies. “The United States is deeply concerned that [the Chinese government] has fostered an intelligence enterprise that includes contract hackers who also conduct unsanctioned cyber operations worldwide, including for their own personal profit.”
The announcement escalates tensions between the U.S. and China, and opens up a new front in the Biden administration’s efforts to combat cyber attacks. The government’s actions “threaten security, confidence, and stability in cyberspace,” a senior White House official told reporters Sunday night. But the U.S. and its allies stopped short of imposing any punishments on Beijing, which could make a change in behavior unlikely for the time being.
“The lack of any sanctions by the U.S. government against Chinese cyber threat actors is a huge problem that transcends four administrations,” Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank, told the Washington Post. “We need to stop treating China as if they have a special immunity to being held accountable, and we need to act in parity as we have with the other major malicious cyber actors, including Russia.”
In March, the U.S. government and Microsoft announced that hackers had breached its Exchange email service, compromising the accounts of tens of thousands of users. “We’re concerned that there are a large number of victims,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at the time, warning that the attack, which began in January, “could have far-reaching impacts.” The Chinese government was believed to be responsible, but the U.S. had not formally accused it of the hack until Monday. (A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has denied the accusations, calling them “groundless” and claiming that China “firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms.”)
The U.S. has struggled to respond to malicious cyber activity. In June, President Joe Biden met with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin in Geneva, where he attempted to curb the Kremlin’s cyber attacks. Just weeks later, hackers connected to Russian intelligence carried out two hacks in a matter of days: a ransomware attack that compromised about 1,500 companies worldwide, and a breach of a third-party technology provider for the Republican National Committee. What the administration can or will do to deter such attacks from actors like Russia and China without further raising tensions is unclear. The senior White House official on Sunday said that “publicly calling out” Beijing’s cyber activity was “the first important piece” of holding the government responsible. But the official also left open the possibility of a more drastic response: “The U.S. and our allies and partners are not ruling out further actions to hold the [People’s Republic of China] accountable.”
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