Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has accused China of leading a spate of cyberattacks against hospitals in Europe during the coronavirus outbreak, stressing that the EU will not “tolerate” such malicious activity.
The accusations were levelled at the conclusion of an EU-China summit on Monday (22 June), which brought together von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel with Chinese counterparts Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping for talks via videoconference.
“We have seen cyber attacks on hospitals and dedicated computing centres,” von der Leyen said, adding that she “pointed out” to Premier Li and President Xi that such attacks along with China’s disinformation campaign in Europe “cannot be tolerated.”
Days ago, China was widely reported to be the perpetrator of cyberattacks on Australia’s government and institutions. “A state-based actor with significant capabilities” had launched attacks on “essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at the end of last week.
NATO & EU warning
At the beginning of June, members of the NATO alliance released a statement condemning “destabilising and malicious cyber activities directed against those whose work is critical to the response against the pandemic, including healthcare services, hospitals and research institutes.”
The comments from the Alliance came after an April statement from the Commission’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, who said “malicious cyber activities” had been recorded across Europe’s healthcare sector, including phishing and malware distribution campaigns, scanning activities and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
Neither the Commission nor NATO however identified the victim nor the perpetrator of the attacks at the time.
Prague attacks
A week before Borrell’s statement was issued, EURACTIV journalists in Prague reported that authorities in the Czech Republic had registered attacks on critical national infrastructures in the country, with the National Cyber and Information Security Authority (N?KIB) issuing a cybersecurity warning.
The authority stated that crucial Czech communication and information systems across medical facilities had been exposed to large-scale cyberattacks attacks.
The attacks had been unsuccessful however, said Health Minister Adam Vojtěch. After the news broke, Czech media had widely levelled accusations against Russia, whose embassy in Prague reacted by calling the allegations “fake news”.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had even entered the debate on cyberattacks against Czech hospitals, but refrained from calling out any particular state actor.
The accusations were levelled at the conclusion of an EU-China summit on Monday (22 June), which brought together von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel with Chinese counterparts Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping for talks via videoconference.
“We have seen cyber attacks on hospitals and dedicated computing centres,” von der Leyen said, adding that she “pointed out” to Premier Li and President Xi that such attacks along with China’s disinformation campaign in Europe “cannot be tolerated.”
Days ago, China was widely reported to be the perpetrator of cyberattacks on Australia’s government and institutions. “A state-based actor with significant capabilities” had launched attacks on “essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at the end of last week.
NATO & EU warning
At the beginning of June, members of the NATO alliance released a statement condemning “destabilising and malicious cyber activities directed against those whose work is critical to the response against the pandemic, including healthcare services, hospitals and research institutes.”
The comments from the Alliance came after an April statement from the Commission’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, who said “malicious cyber activities” had been recorded across Europe’s healthcare sector, including phishing and malware distribution campaigns, scanning activities and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
Neither the Commission nor NATO however identified the victim nor the perpetrator of the attacks at the time.
Prague attacks
A week before Borrell’s statement was issued, EURACTIV journalists in Prague reported that authorities in the Czech Republic had registered attacks on critical national infrastructures in the country, with the National Cyber and Information Security Authority (N?KIB) issuing a cybersecurity warning.
The authority stated that crucial Czech communication and information systems across medical facilities had been exposed to large-scale cyberattacks attacks.
The attacks had been unsuccessful however, said Health Minister Adam Vojtěch. After the news broke, Czech media had widely levelled accusations against Russia, whose embassy in Prague reacted by calling the allegations “fake news”.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had even entered the debate on cyberattacks against Czech hospitals, but refrained from calling out any particular state actor.