The Chinese foreign ministry rejected the allegations as a “collective disinformation campaign” launched by the U.S. and allies for geopolitical reasons.
A state-sponsored Chinese hacking group has been spying on a wide range of U.S. critical infrastructure organizations, from telecommunications to transportation hubs, Western intelligence agencies and Microsoft said on Wednesday.
The espionage has also targeted the U.S. island territory of Guam, home to strategically important American military bases, Microsoft said in a report, adding that “mitigating this attack could be challenging.”
While China and the United States routinely spy on each other, analysts say this is one of the largest known Chinese cyber-espionage campaigns against American critical infrastructure.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday the hacking allegations were a “collective disinformation campaign” from the Five Eyes countries, a reference to the intelligence-sharing grouping of countries made up of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK.
