US, allies accused of 'disinformation campaign' by China over hacking claims

China accused the US and its allies of running a “disinformation campaign” on Thursday, following reports that state-sponsored Chinese hackers had hacked crucial US infrastructure networks. “This is an extremely unprofessional report with a missing chain of evidence, this is just scissors-and-paste work,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. The allegations were “a collective disinformation campaign of the Five Eyes coalition countries”, she said. In a study released Wednesday, Microsoft named Guam, a US island in the Pacific Ocean with a major military installation, as one of the purportedly Chinese state-backed hackers’ targets. However, it stated that “malicious” behaviour has been discovered elsewhere in the United States. The covert attack, carried out by a China-sponsored actor called “Volt Typhoon” since mid-2021, permitted long-term spying and was likely targeted at hindering the US in the event of a conflict, according to the report. The US and its Five Eyes security alliance allies – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom – reiterated the assertions, which Beijing disputed on Thursday. The United States, Mao said, “was expanding new channels for disseminating disinformation”. “But no change in tactics can alter the fact that the US is a hacker empire,” she said. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.