That is according to Amit Yoran, chairman and CEO at Maryland-based cybersecurity firm Tenable who believes “we couldn’t be further away from a ‘mission accomplishment’, to insulate ourselves from Chinese influence and attacks”.
“China is a well-funded and sophisticated cyber adversary that employs multiple vectors for attacks. They have a cyber army trained on Western powers and have shown creativity and a long-game mentality.
“To date, we have not taken this threat seriously enough nor galvanised the political will to take decisive action."
China response
Yoran’s comments come as China hit back at accusations from the US and UK that it is behind the state hacking operation targeting Western countries.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian rejected the accusations on Tuesday, telling a press briefing: "We urge the US and UK to stop politicising cyber security issues. Stop smearing China and stop imposing unilateral sanctions on China. Stop their cyber-attack against China.”
Late on Monday, the US said that seven Chinese nationals who worked for Advanced Persistent Threat Group (APT31) – a top Beijing spy agency, had been charged with taking part in a widespread hacking campaign.
This was also an allegation that Jian rejected.
"The Chinese side has already made technical clarifications and response to the APT 31-related Information submitted by the UK side, which made clear that the evidence provided by the UK was inadequate," he said, adding: "Unfortunately, we haven't heard from the UK side."
The news comes amid growing hostilities between China and the US, with some intelligence leaders calling China “the most persistent cyber threat to the US”. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called China “the greatest state-based threat to our economic security" and said, "It's right we take measures to protect ourselves".
The UK Deputy PM Oliver Dowden told Parliament on Monday that Chinese state actors attacked the British Electoral Commission in 2022 and should be considered a threat.
Dowden told MPs that he would be summoning the Chinese ambassador for an explanation of what happened.
Amid escalating tensions between China and the West, Yoran says that the best way for countries like the US, UK and Australia to combat these attacks is to work these issues holistically, not just in the cyber domain and to employ “technical and non-technical means – offensively and defensively – to impart cost and deterrence to our adversaries”.
