China’s embassy in Oslo denied on Thursday any involvement in a hacking attack on the Norwegian data and financial services firm Visma. It called the conclusions of an extensive investigation into the attack by both Norwegian and US experts “a cliché” that’s hardly worth responding to.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported Thursday afternoon that it finally had received a response from the embassy after all. The embassy had initially refused response when news broke of the hackers’ attack on Wednesday. A lengthy investigation disclosed by Visma concluded that Chinese hackers known as APT10, also known as Stone Panda and backed by the Chinese government, were behind the attack, “based on technical data uncovered.”
The embassy repeated earlier statements that Chinese authorities have never taken part in or supported others in stealing any form of commercial secrets. It also claimed that it’s been one of the world’s biggest victims of hacking attacks.
The Chinese further wrote in an email to NRK that the international community should engage in “dialogue and cooperation” in an effort to deal with threats against cyber security, in a spirit of mutual respect. It had earlier scoffed, however, at Norwegian police intelligence service PST’s warnings of cyber attacks backed by several nations including China, Russia and Iran, and possible risks of doing business with the Chinese company Huawei.
newsinenglish.no staff
