NZ agencies: Hard to tell if cyberattack warnings made a difference

• Published date: 28 March 2024
• Author: Phil Pennington of RNZ
• Publication title: Daily Post, The (Rotorua, New Zealand)

The Government has accused Beijing of being behind a hack three years ago, a charge it rejects

Separately, Western agencies have been warning for weeks that China has “successfully compromised” critical infrastructure in the US especially in the communications, energy, transport and water systems.

The National Cyber Security Centre signed a warning last week, and said yesterday it was not aware of direct impacts in New Zealand.

“This activity relates to a sophisticated state actor and detecting such activity is challenging,” it said.

“While we are not aware of direct impacts in New Zealand from this activity, New Zealand critical infrastructure operators often use similar technology and systems to those utilised in the United States.”

The attacks in the US have been blamed on Volt Typhoon and other hacker groups China is accused of backing. The US this week sanctioned China-based hackers for allegedly targeting its infrastructure, and the UK joined in.

The US and UK accuse China of a years-long cyber-attack campaign.

But China says it is the victim of hacking from the West.

Yesterday, the collapse of a Baltimore bridge after a ship rammed it, led to a flurry of conspiracist posts online including blaming a cyber attack, but the White House said there was no indication of “nefarious intent”.

New Zealand has stopped short of sanctions.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he conveyed concerns to the Chinese Embassy on Tuesday about the hacks at Parliament in 2021.

Asked if he included Volt Typhoon in those concerns, a spokesperson for Peters said in a statement: “Regards to Volt Typhoon, the NCSC joined with partners in February in publishing guidance and also identifying state actors including the PRC.

“As you’re aware, our most recent interaction with PRC prior to the call to the Chinese Ambassador, was the visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi. While we...