NYT: Since 2022, Chinese hackers have stepped up their hunt for Russia's military secrets

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, groups affiliated with the Chinese government have repeatedly hacked into Russian companies and government agencies, likely in search of military secrets. This was reported by the newspaper The New York Times with reference to cyber analysts and an internal document of the Russian Federal Security Service.

Cyberattacks began to gain momentum in May 2022, a few months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Chinese groups are infiltrating Russian systems even as Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping publicly declared a significant era of cooperation and friendship, journalists noted.

China is much richer than Russia and has a lot of domestic scientific and military experience, but Chinese military experts often complain about the lack of combat experience of Chinese troops.

Experts say China sees Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an opportunity to gather information on modern warfare tactics, Western weapons and what works against them.

The NYT notes that it is unclear how successful these attempts were, in part because the Russians have never publicly acknowledged the attacks. But a classified FSB document clearly indicates intelligence officials' concerns.

The document, obtained by journalists, states that China is seeking to adopt Russian experience and technology and is trying to learn from Russia's war against Ukraine. The document calls China an "enemy". It refers to China's special interest in the use of drones and their software.

NYT sources say the document indicates that China wants to learn from Russia's military experience to strengthen its own preparedness for potential future conflicts.

According to cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, a Chinese hacking group with ties to the government hacked into Russian defense giant Rostec to obtain data on satellite communications, radar systems and electronic warfare equipment.

Other groups have worked with malicious files that exploit vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word to infiltrate Russia's aviation industry and government agencies.

• On May 25, the head of the SVR said that China supplies machine tools, special chemicals, gunpowder and components to 20 Russian military plants.
• China rejected Ivashchenko's accusations of supplying goods to Russian military plants.