It is not a secret, not even an open secret, that the ambiguous position of China in the Russian invasion of Ukraine goes beyond belligerent neutrality in favor of its ally of the Kremlin.
Despite the constant denials of Beijingwhose political leaders, beginning with the president Xi Jinpingstrive to highlight that they are in favor of a negotiated solution, without the support of ChinaRussia could not continue in its expansionist plans.
A report by the Ukrainian intelligence services, to which he has had access The Timesreveals that the massive cyberattack suffered by Ukraine against its military and nuclear facilities in the days before Russia occurred from China.
According to the conclusions reached by the Ukrainian analysts, the hackers of Beijing began their cyber sabotage actions during the Winter Olympic Games and reached their maximum intensity on February 23, the day before Russian troops began their invasion of Ukraine.
Trail of Chinese hackers
During the attack, more than 600 web pages of the ukrainian ministry of defense and other organizations essential to the security of the country.
According to him SBUthe security service of Ukrainethe goal of the attack was not limited to rendering Internet sites inoperative.
The main objective of the attack was infiltrate internal systems to steal information and block physical infrastructures for the correct development of civil life and the military defense of Ukraine.
In addition to the internal networks of Defendingwere affected during the attack the systems of the National Bank ukrainian and railroad network national.
The SBU explained in his report that the identification of Chinese responsibility in the attack has been possible thanks to the characteristic trail left by the hackers chinese in their actions of cyber warfare driven by the People’s Army.
the intelligence of United States confirmed the conclusions of the report of the SBU and defined his data as “accurate.”
The Times also agreed to a number of documents provided by the SBU where the targets of the cyber hacking attack are exposed.
What is most worrying about these documents are the references to attacks against nuclear security agencies and nuclear power plants Ukraine.
The SBU also concluded that, in view of the evidence, China he had been aware of Russian invasion plans for weeks before the aggression began. These plans provided for a quick attack without major consequences for the Russian army.
According to the intelligence and surveillance expert of the Royal United Services Institute, Sam Cranny-Evansconsulted by The Times«the attacks point to a certain level of complicity between Russia and China and the willingness of both countries to support each other in their military operations.
Despite the virulence of the attack, Ukraine managed to reject it with the help of United Stateswhich put cybersecurity experts at the service of the Ukrainian government to strengthen its cyber defenses.
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