The Minister of Foreign Affairs for Beligum announced on Monday that Belgium’s defense and interior ministries were targeted by Chinese-government hacking groups.
The cyber-espionage groups named in the Belgian Government statement are APT27, APT30, APT31, and a fourth threat group tracked under multiple names, including Gallium, Softcell, and UNSC 2814.
The Chinese Embassy in Belgium denied the allegations that China had endorsed these attacks and pointed to a lack of evidence from the Belgium government.
“It is extremely unserious and irresponsible of the Belgian side to issue a statement about the so-called ‘malicious cyberattacks’ by Chinese hackers without any evidence,” the spokesperson said.
Despite this denial, the Belgium government urged Chinese authorities to adhere to state behavior norms and to take action against malicious hacker groups inside China.
This is far from the first time that the Chinese government has been blamed for a cyber attacks against Western democracies.
US and allies (the European Union and the United Kingdom) officially blamed China in June 2021 for last year’s massive Microsoft Exchange hacking spree.
In June, a joint announcement by the NSA, CISA, and the FBI blamed Chinese state hackers compromised telecommunication companies and network service providers.
