Chinese hackers broke into Asian telecoms networks to spy on Uygur travellers: sources
- The hacks are part of a wider cyber-espionage campaign targeting ‘high-value individuals’ such as diplomats and foreign military personnel, the sources said
- Telecoms operators in countries including India, Thailand and Malaysia were compromised, they added
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China has repeatedly denied involvement in cyberattacks or any mistreatment of the Uygur people, whose religious and cultural rights Beijing says are fully protected, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry said any hacking allegations need to be supported by evidence.
“We would again like to stress that China is a resolute safeguarder of internet security. We consistently and resolutely oppose and crack down on any forms of internet attacks,” a ministry statement said.
Reuters was not able to identify which specific telecoms operators were compromised. Government officials in India and Thailand declined to comment. Authorities in Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Turkey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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‘WINDOW INTO SOMEONE’S LIFE’
Telecoms operators have long been targeted by intelligence agencies around the world for the wealth of sensitive user data they hold, such as information on location and contacts.
Western officials say Chinese cyberattacks have in part been driven by concerns that some of the up to 5,000 Uygurs believed to be fighting alongside militant groups in Iraq and Syria may return to carry out attacks in China.
The ability to access telecoms user data has also become an increasingly valuable spying resource as the widespread use of encrypted messaging platforms has made it harder to intercept and monitor communications, said John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at US cybersecurity company FireEye.
“A single (telecoms operator) intrusion gives attackers access to a lot more information than they would get going after individuals,” he said.
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FireEye said that one of the Chinese hacking groups it monitors had deployed a piece of malware against telecoms operators in Southeast Asia to mine SMS data for messages containing keywords associated with terror attacks, military ranks and names of Chinese politicians.
The Chinese hackers also widely targeted call detail record (CDR) data held by their victims, said Amit Serper, an investigator at US-Israeli cybersecurity company Cybereason, which published a report on the activity this year.
CDR data shows who is sending and receiving calls, as well as the user’s location, giving an attacker what Serper described as “a window into someone’s life”.
Stealing a user’s CDR data “gives you the ability to see who this person is contacting and, most importantly, which cell tower their phone is connecting to all day”, he said.
“So not only can you map someone’s circle of friends, you can map someone’s entire day.”