Prague Accuses China of Hacking Czech Foreign Ministry

The Czech government has launched a scathing attack on China, accusing the country of carrying out a sophisticated cyberattack against its foreign ministry that exposed thousands of unclassified emails.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Czech government condemned the attack, attributing it to the Chinese state-sponsored group Advanced Persistent Threat 31 (APT31). The group, run by China's Ministry of State Security from Wuhan, has been accused of numerous high-profile attacks in the past, including targeting the personal emails of campaign staff working for U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2020.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský vowed to summon the Chinese ambassador immediately to explain the findings and warn that the attack would damage bilateral relations between the two countries. "With today's move, we have exposed China, which has long been working to undermine our resilience and democracy," Lipavský said. "Through cyberattacks, information manipulation, and propaganda, it interferes in our society — and we must defend ourselves against that."

This is the first time the Czech government has attributed a national cyberattack to a state-backed actor, highlighting the growing concern over cyber threats to democratic systems and critical infrastructure.

An investigation conducted by various Czech authorities, including the Security Information Service, Military Intelligence, Office for Foreign Relations and Information, and National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB), provided clear evidence of the attack's origin. The U.S. Justice Department has also confirmed that APT31 is run by China's Ministry of State Security from Wuhan.

The alleged Chinese hack sparked outrage in Brussels, with EU top brass and NATO headquarters condemning the attack. "The European Union and its Member States, together with international partners, stand in solidarity with Czechia regarding the malicious cyber campaign that targeted its Ministry of Foreign Affairs," said Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat.

"We call upon all states, including China, to refrain from such behavior, to respect international law and to adhere to the UN norms and principles, including those related to critical infrastructure," Kallas added. "Cyber threat actors persistently seek to destabilize the Alliance. We remain committed to expose and counter the substantial, continuous, and increasing cyber threat, including to our democratic systems and critical infrastructure."

"We are determined to further improve our capabilities and resilience and to employ the necessary capabilities in order to deter, defend against, and counter the full spectrum of cyber threats to support each other," NATO said in a statement.