Chinese Hackers Hijack Swedish Routers to Launch Cyber Attacks

The Security Police (Säpo) has disclosed that a Chinese hacker group, APT31, has commandeered Swedish routers to perpetrate cyber attacks against multiple countries.

This sophisticated cyber espionage campaign, believed to be orchestrated by elements within the Chinese state apparatus, underscores the evolving threat landscape and the intricate methods state-sponsored actors employ to achieve their objectives.

APT31, a notorious hacker group with alleged ties to the Chinese government, has been implicated in cyber attacks spanning 2021 and 2022. According to Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg, a spokesperson for Säpo, these attacks were notably executed through the compromised routers of unsuspecting private individuals in Sweden. This method facilitated the attacks and rendered them more challenging to trace back to their origins, thereby complicating attribution and enabling plausible deniability.