CHina Accuses the US with Cyberattack on a Top-Ranked Research University
The Chinese government has accused the United States of launching a cyberattack on one of the country’s leading scientific institutes in order to steal data.
China claims that the Main Security Agency (NSA), the US Defense Department’s national intelligence agency, launched a cyberattack on Northwestern Polytechnical University.
Times Higher Education’s (THE) World University Rankings 2022 place the university 501-600th, while THE Asia University Rankings 2022 place it 87th. The institution is ranked 551-560th in the QS World University Rankings 2022.
The US, on the other hand, sees the institute as a Chinese university that conducts military research and works for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China’s main military force and the armed branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
What caused that to happen?
The National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), China’s equivalent of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), has highlighted the incident in one of its most recent publications.
The cyber attack was carried out by the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations (TAO) programme, according to the article. Northwestern Polytechnical University’s cybersecurity system was breached using 41 hacking tools.
The TAO used “Suctionchar” as one of its tools to steal account credentials from distant systems stored on the university’s servers. TAO also used Bvp47, a Linux backdoor.
Diplomatic Protest
China has also lodged a diplomatic complaint with the United States. Yang Tao, Director-General of American Affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in an official complaint
The NSA has seriously violated Northwestern Polytechnical University’s technological secrets. The NSA has significantly endangered China’s essential infrastructure, institutions, and personal information security, and it must be halted immediately.
