Australia and allies accuse Chinese spy agency of large-scale cyber espionage

An advisory issued by key regional partners led by Australia, has accused a Chinese spy agency of repeatedly targeting government and private sector networks in Australia and the wider region. Australia and key regional partners are accusing a Chinese spy agency of cyber espionage, targeting government and business networks, in a large-scale operation that involves stealing hundreds of usernames and passwords. Together with our international partners, today we released an advisory outlining the threat to Australian networks from a PRC state-sponsored actor. APT40 is increasingly using vulnerable infrastructure to compromise Australian networks. Australian Signals Directorate July 8, 2024 "APT40 has repeatedly targeted Australian networks as well as government and private sector networks in the region, and the threat they pose to our networks is ongoing," the advisory published on Tuesday morning said. "Notably, APT40 possesses the capability to rapidly transform and adapt exploit proof-of-concept(s) of new vulnerabilities and immediately utilise them against target networks possessing the infrastructure of the associated vulnerability."APT40 regularly conducts reconnaissance against networks of interest, including networks in the authoring agencies' countries, looking for opportunities to compromise its targets," the statement added. APT40 is suspected of regularly targeting Australian government and private sector networks and attempts to exploit compromised office and work-from-home devices to gain access to sensitive IT networks.