U.S. and allies formally accuse China of hacking and cyber espionage

The United States, European Union, UK, and NATO have jointly accused China of malicious cyber activities, including a massive hack involving Microsoft.

In an official statement published Monday, the U.S. and partners claim that China has used contract hackers to conduct unsanctioned cyber operations globally, including cyber espionage operations and ransomware attacks.

"The PRC’s pattern of irresponsible behavior in cyberspace is inconsistent with its stated objective of being seen as a responsible leader in the world. Today, countries around the world are making it clear that concerns regarding the PRC’s malicious cyber activities is bringing them together to call out those activities, promote network defense and cybersecurity, and act to disrupt threats to our economies and national security," the U.S. and partners say in the statement.

The hack of Microsoft's Exchange email server software, widely reported on in March, affected thousands of companies.

The U.S. and partners didn't go as far as to impose sanctions against China, as the U.S. did with Russia following its interference in the 2016 presidential elections and the SolarWinds hack in 2020.

The European Union released a similar statement on Monday, saying it has detected "malicious cyber activities with significant effects that targeted government institutions and political organisations in the EU and member states, as well as key European industries."

"These activities (...) have been conducted from the territory of China for the purpose of intellectual property theft and espionage," the statement says.

China has not issued a response yet, though the AP points out that a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson previously spoke on the topic of the Microsoft Exchange hack, calling the accusations "groundless."

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