Chinese experts Wednesday slammed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s accusation that Chinese and Russian hackers were probably reading his e-mails, saying that U.S. politicians have been scrambling to hype up thorny issues such as cyber security, human rights and trade conflicts before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit in September. “It is not … outside the realm of possibility, and we know that they have attacked a number of American interests over the course of the last days”, Kerry said during an interview with CBS.
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“It’s very possible”, Kerry said.
The head of US diplomacy recalled that the US had “recently raised very, very strongly in our dialogue with the Chinese”.
It was reported this week that the U.S. government believes that Chinese hackers have been reading personal email accounts of top U.S. officials for over five years, since 2010.
Kerry’s optimism echoes that of other administration officials who predict there will be enough support in Congress to implement the deal, which would lift sanctions in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear program. The June cyber attack targeted massive amounts of personal data at the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. officials suspected Russian Federation was behind the intrusion.
The United States federal government has reportedly faced cyber attacks from groups in both countries. We are deeply involved in fighting back against this on a daily basis.
China has said claims it was behind those attacks are unfounded and that it is opposed to all forms of cyber hacking.
“Spying has taken place for centuries and the latest means of spying is to be going after peoples’ cyber”, explained Kerry.
The US have accused China for numerous attacks perpetrated against the government and American businesses.
In recent months there have been several well-publicized government computer breaches.
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China has dismissed the hacking allegations as “irresponsible and unscientific”.
