‘Chinese.hack@premier.fed.be’

Published on 27 September 2013 at 09:28

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Recent computer attacks on the offices of Prime Minister Elio di Rupo and Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders reported on September 20 by De Tijd, were the work of Chinese hackers, reveals De Morgen.

The daily cites a confidential Belgian secret service report, and also quotes an expert on China, Jonathan Holslag. A research fellow at the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies, Holslag explains that the attack was motivated by China’s interest in Belgian policy, notably with regard to —

… strategy on international trade agreements [...]. Brussels is one of the places where it is easy to obtain a lot of information [because] Belgium is one of the countries with the weakest cyber security defences.

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The newspaper notes in passing that Belgian secret services suspect that hackers based in the UK were responsible for the recent computer attack on Belgacom.

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