China Accused of Cyber Attacks on 42 Countries, US Responds

China Accused of Cyber Attacks on 42 Countries, US Responds

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - US technology giant, Google, has uncovered and thwarted a large-scale hacking operation linked to China. The cyber attack is said to have targeted 53 organisations in 42 countries, prompting a swift response from the company and related authorities in the US.

The hacking group, tracked as UNC2814 or Gallium, has a history of nearly 10 years in infiltrating government agencies and telecommunications companies around the world.

“This is a large-scale surveillance apparatus used to spy on people and organisations around the world,” said John Hultquist of Google Threat Intelligence Group, quoted by CNBC Indonesia from Reuters, Thursday (26/2/2026).

In response, Google, along with several partners, immediately stopped the group’s Google Cloud projects. The internet infrastructure used for the operation was also disabled, including accounts used to access Google Sheets as a means of carrying out data theft and targeting victims.

According to Google, the use of Google Sheets made their activities difficult to detect because they blended in with normal network traffic. The company stressed that this was not a hack of Google products.

Senior Manager of Google Threat Intelligence Group, Charley Snyder, revealed that the group had confirmed access to 53 entities in 42 countries, with potential access to at least 22 other countries before the operation was stopped.

In one case, hackers installed a backdoor called “GRIDTIDE” on a system storing highly sensitive data, including full names, phone numbers, dates of birth, places of birth, voter identification numbers, and national identification numbers. This pattern of attack is considered consistent with systematic efforts to track and identify specific targets.

Google also said that this campaign is different from other operations known as Salt Typhoon, which has previously been linked by the US government to China and targeted hundreds of organisations and political figures in the United States.

“Cyber security is a shared challenge faced by all countries and must be addressed through dialogue and cooperation,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, Liu Pengyu, in response to the allegations.

He added, “China consistently opposes and combats hacking activities in accordance with the law, and at the same time firmly opposes attempts to use cyber security issues to smear or slander China.” (fab/fab)