Chinese hackers break into American government and military accounts

Chinese hackers believed to be backed by the government have gained access to American government and military accounts, according to a new report.

These attacks are 'unusually aggressive and sophisticated' and have allowed hackers to gain access to at least two major internet service providers with a combined reach of millions of customers, The Washington Post reports.

The revelation comes as the United States and China take steps toward repairing their damaged relationship, with Jake Sullivan, U.S. national security adviser, travelling to the northern outskirts of Beijing for a two day meeting with Wang Yi, a senior foreign policy official for Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

'President Biden has been very clear in his conversations with President Xi that he is committed to managing this important relationship responsibly,' Sullivan told Wang before the talks got underway. 

Meanwhile back home, it is understood Chinese-backed hackers have been spying on Americans via their internet service providers.

These attacks are 'unusually aggressive and sophisticated' and have allowed hackers to gain access to at least two major internet service providers with a combined reach of millions of customers

Other targets, according to the publication, are believed to include government and military personnel working undercover.

Brandon Wales, the former executive director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, told the publication the attacks are 'dramatically stepped up from where it used to be. It is an order of magnitude worse.'

The Chinese embassy in Washington emphatically rejected the report.

Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu instead suggested departments are amplifying suggestions of perceived risk in order to secure greater funding.

He said: 'There are signs that in order to receive more congressional budgets and government contracts, the U.S. intelligence community and cybersecurity companies have been secretly collaborating to piece together false evidence and spread disinformation about so-called Chinese government's support for cyberattacks against the U.S.'

The revelation comes as the United States and China take steps toward repairing their damaged relationship, with Jake Sullivan, U.S. national security adviser, travelling to the northern outskirts of Beijing for a two day meeting with Wang Yi, a senior foreign policy official for Chinese leader Xi Jinping 

The goal of Sullivan's visit, which lasts through Thursday, is limited - to try to maintain communication in a relationship that broke down for the better part of a year in 2022-23.

No major announcements are expected, though Sullivan's meetings could lay the groundwork for a possible final summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping before Biden steps down in January.

Wang, the director of the Communist Party´s Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office, noted that the China-U.S. relationship has gone through twists and turns in the past few years.

'The key,' he said, 'is to keep to the overall direction of mutual respect, peaceful co-existence, and win-win cooperation.' 

The Biden administration has taken a tough line on China, viewing it as a strategic competitor, restricting the access of its companies to advanced technology and confronting the rising power as it seeks to exert influence over Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Already frosty relations went into a deep freeze after then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a senior U.S. lawmaker, visited Taiwan in August 2022. Hopes of restoring ties were dashed the following February when a suspected Chinese spy balloon drifted across the U.S. before being shot down by the U.S. military.

The goal of Sullivan's visit, which lasts through Thursday, is limited - to try to maintain communication in a relationship that broke down for the better part of a year in 2022-23