NZ concern over China-linked Pacific cyber breach

The Government is concerned by news of a cyber attack linked to the Chinese government against the Pacific Islands Forum secretariat , with the Asian superpower vehemently denying the claims.
Newsroom understands the forum secretariat called in Australian cybersecurity experts in February over a potential cyber attack against its network.
After investigating the incident, the Australian experts found there had been an intrusion by an advanced persistent threat (or APT) group linked to the Chinese government.
Newsroom has learned the forum’s secretary general Baron Waqa was briefed on the findings last month, with forum member states subsequently told of the incident ahead of last month’s leaders meeting in Tonga. However, the secretariat has opted against publicly sharing the incident or the connection to China.
The ABC, which broke the news of the cyber breach, said it had been told the intrusion was “extensive” and the group had wanted to gather information about the secretariat, its operations and communications with forum member nations.
It was likely the hackers had gained access to the secretariat well before the incident was detected in February, the ABC said.
The incident bears some similarity to a 2021 attack on the Parliamentary Service and the Parliamentary Counsel Office, as well as several New Zealand politicians and academics, that the Government this year attributed to the Chinese state-sponsored group APT40.
In a statement, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters confirmed New Zealand had been “briefed on a cyber incident affecting the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat systems”.
“We remain concerned by the growing number of malicious cyber incidents in our region, targeting national entities and regional organisations. Australia’s assistance to rapidly support the Forum Secretariat to remediate their systems following this incident is deeply appreciated.”
Speaking to journalists on Thursday afternoon, Peters himself said he had been told about remedial work from the Australian government “a little while ago”, but would not comment on the reported link to the Chinese government until “a proper report” came out.
The Chinese embassy told the ABC it denied any link to the attack, describing it as “a made-up story [with] no basis at all”.
“We firmly oppose the practice of politicising cybersecurity issues, accusing other countries without evidence, and wantonly associating cyber attacks with the government of any country,” the embassy said.
China’s role as a partner of the forum spilled over into controversy at the end of the leaders meeting in Nuku’alofa, when its special envoy to the Pacific Qian Bo angrily dismissed a mention to Taiwan’s own involvement in the leaders’ communiqué as “a surprising mistake … that must be corrected”.
The reference was eventually removed from the document, with a spokeswoman saying it had “re-issued the correct version” but the final document did not change the decisions made at the meeting or any previous commitments.
Newsroom has approached the forum for comment on the cyber incident.