Beijing has been accused of sponsoring an attack on Microsoft Exchange email servers earlier this year which "recklessly" exposed thousands of businesses to criminal hackers.

The Chinese government has been accused of "systematic cyber sabotage" in statements by the UK and allies, including the US and Canada.

The allies are announcing that they believe Chinese state-sponsored hackers were responsible for an attack earlier this year which "indiscriminately" compromised an estimated 400,000 servers worldwide, leaving them exposed to criminals.

More than 70 organisations in the UK were compromised by the hack, perpetrated by a group associated with Beijing according to the National Cyber Security Centre. This attribution has been supported by allies.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab described the hacking campaign - which is believed to have compromised the on-premise email servers indiscriminately with an intention to subsequently target specific victims - as "a reckless but familiar pattern of behaviour" from the Chinese government.

THE CHIEF of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has stated that ransomware is the key cyber threat facing the UK and urged members of the public and the business community to take it seriously. Delivering the Royal United Services Institute’s (RUSI) Annual Security Lecture in an online format, Lindy Cameron warned of the “cumulative effect” of failing to properly deal with this rising threat.

Cameron also revealed the threat faced by Think Tanks, noting that it’s “almost certain” that the primary cyber threat they face is from nation state espionage groups. It’s highly likely the latter will seek to gain strategic insights into Government policy and commercially sensitive information.

The CEO of the NCSC – which is a part of GCHQ – has also warned that, for the majority of UK citizens and organisations, the primary key threat is not state actors, but cyber criminals.