GCSB says China is behind attempts to steal New Zealand business' data

December 21, 2018
New Zealand hasn’t been affected by these attacks, but the GCSB says we can’t relax.

The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) says it has established links between the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) and a global campaign of cyber-enabled commercial intellectual property theft.

The GCSB warned in April of 2017 that this activity was taking place, and today has made the allegation that China's government is behind it.

The campaign was focused on stealing the intellectual property and commercial data of a number of service providers, some of which operate in New Zealand, GCSB Director-General Andrew Hampton said.

"This activity is counter to the commitment all APEC economies, including China, made in November 2016," Mr Hampton said.

"APEC economies agreed they should not conduct or support ICT-enabled theft of intellectual property or other confidential business information, for commercial advantage.

"New Zealand is committed to upholding the rules-based international order, and today joins likeminded partners in expressing that such cyber campaigns are unacceptable.

"We became aware of this campaign in early 2017. Our National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued advice on its website, enabling New Zealand organisations to take steps to protect their networks.

"We also engaged with New Zealand subsidiaries of the targeted managed service providers to assist in their response.

"The GCSB has worked through a robust attribution process in relation to this campaign. New Zealand attributes cyber incidents where it is in the national interest to do so. Our approach today is consistent with GCSB’s previous attributions of cyber activity.

"Around a third of the serious incidents recorded by the NCSC can be linked to state-sponsored actors. This ongoing activity reinforces the importance of organisations having strong cyber security measures across their supply chain."

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