China accused of 'systematic cyber sabotage' by UK & allies

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.