Australia accuses China of hacking attacks that cost it $8.1 bn in 2024, Beijing rebuts

Australia has accused China of hacking into the country’s telecom networks and other key infrastructure to steal sensitive information. Australian spy chief Mike Burgess has warned of economic disruption from sabotage owing to China’s hacking attempts.

Burgess, the director general of security for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, revealed that Beijing’s espionage cost Canberra $8.1 billion last year. That included the loss of A$2 billion in trade secrets and intellectual property, he told a business conference in Melbourne.

‘Salt and Volt Typhoon’

The spy chief said hacker groups linked to China, going by the names Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon, have been sabotaging Australian networks and are “working for the Chinese government and its military.”

He added, “We have seen Chinese hackers probing our critical infrastructure as well.”

Burgess said Salt Typhoon had not only penetrated US telecoms systems in a strategic spying operation but also had “been probing our telecommunication networks here in Australia too”.

Volt Typhoon had an intention to disrupt operations, he said, and compromised US critical infrastructure to pre-position for potential sabotage.

Burgess warned of the impact of widespread telecoms disruption, in areas such as banks and transport, as well as cutting off supplies of water and power.

“I assure you; these are not hypotheticals – foreign governments have elite teams investigating these possibilities right now,” he said.

China hits back

China, on the other hand, has rejected all these claims. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Burgess’s remarks “spread false narratives and deliberately provoked confrontation”.

China has made representations to Australia about them, the spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, told a regular briefing.

“In recent months, the Australian official you mentioned repeatedly hurled attacks at China, spread disinformation and deliberately sowed division and confrontation. China firmly opposes it and has protested with Australia. It’s hoped that the Australian official can stop making irresponsible statements and do more things conducive to the healthy development of China-Australia relations,” Jiakun said to a question posed by Bloomberg.

With inputs from agencies