China urges US to clarify situation with CIA 'Beehive' spyware
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The United States has long been targeting China with its cyber weapons, and the latter asks it to clarify following the fifth scandal in a few months.
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The logo of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is shown in the lobby of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia (Reuters)
China called on the United States to clarify the situation regarding the Beehive malware attack and control systems developed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and used in many countries around the world, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday.
Chinese cybersecurity experts exposed the CIA and US defense firm Northrop Grumman's Beehive cyberweapon, the Chinese Global Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.
According to the report on the malware, the program can support "remote scanning, vulnerability exploitation, concealed implantation, secret theft, file extraction, intranet penetration, and system destruction."
"China is gravely concerned over the irresponsible malicious cyber activities of the US government. We urge the US side to explain itself and immediately stop such malicious activities," spokesperson Wang told a press briefing.
He also accused Washington of "trying to cajole relevant countries, especially China's neighbors, into cybersecurity cooperation with it" under the guise of enhancing capacity.
Reportedly, the CIA has deployed infrastructure for the operation of the Beehive platform around the world, including in Canada, France, Germany, Malaysia, and Turkey, among other countries.
The CIA has been using the platform to hijack a large number of secret information from victim countries and control their important information infrastructure. It has also been helping the notorious intelligence agency access personal data from all over the world, which the US needs to "maintain its hegemonic position," the Chinese newspaper wrote.
This marks the fifth cyber weapon used by the United States that has been exposed by Chinese experts in recent months, the latest being in March. The weapon in question was one used by the US National Security Agency to target China. The weapon could monitor and hijack social media accounts, emails, and communication information.
According to media reports at the time, internet security company, 360's findings are the second in less than a month to prove the NSA's ongoing large-scale international cyber operations targeting various countries around the world, particularly China.
The data stolen by the NSA around the world includes network profiles, account numbers and passwords, office and private documents, databases, online friends' information, communications information, emails, and real-time data from cameras and microphones.
