Hackers have reportedly downloaded cables which reveal concerns about US President Donald Trump’s administration, struggles with Russia and China, and the risk of Iran reviving its nuclear programme. According to the New York Times, more than 1,100 reports were supplied by security firm Area 1 after the breach was discovered. Investigators believe the hackers involved worked for the China People’s Liberation Army, though this has not been confirmed.
According to Area 1, the methods hackers used during a three-year period resembled those long used by an elite unit of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
The thousands of messages supplied by Area 1 showed memorandums of conversations with Saudi Arabian, Israeli and other countries leaders.
One cable shows European diplomats describing a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Finland as “successful (at least for Putin).”
Another, which was written after a July 16 meeting, depicted a detailed report and analysis of talks between European officials and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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President Xi Jinping was quoted as comparing Trump’s “bullying” of Beijing to a “no-rules freestyle boxing match.”
A third, from March 7, shows the deputy head of the EU mission in Washington, Caroline Vicini, recommending the trade bloc’s diplomats to describe the United States as “our most important partner”.
This came even as it challenged Trump “in areas where we disagreed with the U.S. (e.g., on climate, trade, Iran nuclear deal).”
The hackers also infiltrated the networks of the United Nations, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), and ministries of foreign affairs and finance worldwide, the report added.
Part of the United Nations documents focuses on months in 2016, when North Korea was actively launching missiles.
The document appears to include references to private meetings of the world body’s secretary-general and his deputies with Asian leaders.
Some of the more than 100 organisations targeted were done so years ago but remained unaware of the breach until day ago.
Some were alerted by Area 1 themselves, a security firm founded by three former officials of the National Security Agency.
There were also extensive reports by European diplomats of Russia’s attempts to undermine Ukraine according to the New York Times.
This included a warning dated February 8, suggesting Crimea, which had been annexed by Moscow four years ago, had become “hot zone where nuclear warheads might have already been deployed.”
The cables were exposed after a run-of-the-mill phishing campaign aimed at diplomats in Cyprus penetrated the island nation’s systems, according to Oren Falkowitz, the chief executive of Area 1.
Mr Falkowitz said: “People talk about sophisticated hackers, but there was nothing really sophisticated about this.”