The United States and its partners jointly issued a warning, but the Chinese government has denied charges that its spies are infiltrating Western infrastructure and has labelled the threat a “collective disinformation campaign.”

Washington was responsible for hacking, according to Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, who said that signals released by the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were meant to promote their intelligence cooperation, known as the Five Eyes.

“The United States is the empire of hacking,” Mao said.

The response comes after a string of alerts regarding the actions of a Chinese hacking organisation known as Volt Typhoon were sent by the Five Eyes nations and major U.S. tech company Microsoft Corp.

Although Chinese spies have been operating online against the United States and its allies for some time, Volt Typhoon has aroused particular worries because of its focus on essential infrastructure, including communications cables that connect the United States to the Pacific, according to analysts.

The group’s emphasis on discretion is also getting notice.

Secureworks, a cybersecurity firm, claimed to have responded to at least three Volt Typhoon breaches and described the group as persistent in its efforts to hide its tracks.

The business backed up Western theories about the group’s origins and asserted that the cyber collective, which it dubbed “Bronze Silhouette,” probably works for Beijing.

Chinese spies have stepped up their efforts, according to Secureworks, a division of Dell Technologies (DELL.N), because of “likely increased pressure from (Chinese) leadership to avoid public scrutiny of its cyberespionage activity.”

(Adapted from LiveMint.com)

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