Were China’s earthquake tracking stations hacked for military secrets by the US?
- Beijing accuses US-backed hackers of infecting seismic monitoring devices with malware
- Foreign ministry calls the hack ‘serious threat to China’s national security’
China has accused US-backed hackers of attacking an earthquake monitoring centre, a move that could be aimed at spying on the country’s military activities, according to a Chinese geoscientist.
City administrators in the city of Wuhan said in a statement on Wednesday that malware had been detected in the data collection stations of an earthquake reporting system operated by the Wuhan Seismic Monitoring Centre in the central province of Hubei.
Police investigators said their analysis revealed that a Trojan virus created a back door into malware-infected devices at the stations, allowing hackers to assume control of the equipment and steal seismic intensity data.
The police statement did not specify the origin of the attack, however a report by state broadcaster CCTV quoted the Wuhan Emergency Management Administration as saying that the hacking was from the US.
On the same day, China’s foreign ministry condemned the hacking as “irresponsible behaviour, without naming the US, adding that Beijing would take the necessary measures to safeguard its cybersecurity.