Chinese Hackers Accused of Spying on German Cartography Agency

by do son · August 2, 2024

Germany has officially accused Chinese hackers of a cyberattack on the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) in 2021. This announcement was made on July 31, when German authorities summoned the Chinese ambassador to discuss the incident.

According to German security services, the objective of the attack was espionage. The BKG performs crucial functions for numerous government and private entities, including work with critical infrastructure, providing up-to-date geospatial data, and supporting the development of geospatial data infrastructure. It was noted that the hackers initiated the breach by compromising the devices of private individuals and companies.

The investigation revealed that a Chinese hacker group, whose name has not been disclosed, used the devices of private individuals and companies to conduct the attack. Following the incident, the BKG implemented comprehensive measures to enhance its information security.

Germany’s Interior Ministry described the attack as a threat to the nation’s sovereignty and called on China to cease such actions. However, German security services anticipate increased activity from Chinese hackers in their attempts to acquire information for China’s industrial development.

The agency expects that cyber operations will continue at a high technical level and with significant resource expenditure. Although traces of the breach were found in the BKG network, no malware was detected in other agency systems. The networks were rebuilt, and German authorities are confident that the perpetrators were unable to maintain access.