PC: The Hacker News

China has accused a key American intelligence agency of acquiring user data from Chinese residents and hacking the country’s communications network, per a report published on Tuesday that outlines the claimed offensive approach.

Northwestern Polytechnical University, which is funded by the Chinese government, is said to have been assaulted by the U.S. National Security Agency last week. According to Chinese official media, more details will be released.

In a study published on Tuesday by cybersecurity company 360 and China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center, the specifics of the alleged attack are described.

The report intensifies the US and China’s already-existing cyberhostility. Beijing has long accused the United States of carrying out cyberattacks, but it rarely offers specifics. China’s strategy has changed as a result of this new analysis.

The Northwestern Polytechnical University was the subject of an NSA man-in-the-middle attack, according to information published in the state-owned People’s Daily newspaper. Here, a hacker listens in on two people’s online conversations. The paper claims that the NSA was able to get access to the university’s network and obtain employee login details, granting the American organization access to more systems.

According to the study, the NSA was able to acquire more personal data once within the network and eventually get remote access to a communications infrastructure operator’s core data network.

According to the paper, as part of the attack, the NSA was able to send data belonging to people in China with “sensitive identities” back to the agency’s American headquarters.

The NSA wasn’t immediately available for comment when CNBC called them.

The study from China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and 360 offers several arguments in favour of the NSA’s involvement in the attack.

Beginning in 2016, a group called the Shadow Brokers published online 16 of the many hacking tools used by the NSA after being given access to some of its techniques and procedures. The paper claims that NSA hackers also carried out attacks during regular business hours in the United States and stopped operations on federal holidays like Memorial Day.

According to the study, the hackers used an American keyboard, spoke American English, and had English-language operating systems on their computers.

Claims that the NSA was monitoring Chinese infrastructure are another point of disagreement between the US and China in the fields of technology and cyberspace. The two greatest economies in the world have recently become more competitive in a number of sectors, including semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

For its part, the United States has accused China of engaging in massive hacking efforts. Chinese cyberattacks have “been more audacious, more deadly, than ever before,” according to Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who made this statement in February.

China, according to Wray, is trying to steal American technology and information.