Pacific Islands Forum investigating cyberattack on networks

The Pacific islands’ peak diplomatic body is investigating a cyberattack on its networks, its top official said Friday while refusing to be drawn on reports that Chinese state-sponsored hackers were responsible for the breach.

The attack on the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, which supports its 18 member countries and territories, occurred in February, Secretary General Baron Waqa said.  

“I can confirm that there was indeed a cybersecurity incident here this year,” he said at a press conference in Fiji’s capital Suva.

“However, the forensic report is being finalized and until it is finalized, we don't know who the threat actor is.”

News of the cyberattack was first reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which said an analysis by the country’s cyber intelligence agency had concluded it was the work of Chinese state-backed actors. Australia sent cyber security experts to Suva, where the PIF Secretariat is headquartered, to help the organization deal with the problem.

The “extensive” security breach was allegedly aimed at gathering information on the Secretariat’s communications with member nations, the ABC reported.

Waqa said the Secretariat’s systems were back up and running. He would not, however, comment on who was responsible until the forensic report was finished. 

“Once that report is done, we will have to furnish it to all our members first and how we proceed after that will depend on their decision,” he said without committing to its public release.

The Chinese embassy in Suva dismissed the ABC report as a “purely a made-up story [that] has no basis at all,” state news agency Xinhua said.

Chinese state-sponsored hackers have been implicated in a growing number of attacks on government agencies, defense and high-tech companies around the world in recent years.

In June, the Pacific archipelago of Palau, a diplomatic ally of Taiwan, accused China of stealing more than 20,000 documents soon after the government signed a 20-year economic and security deal with the United States.

A month later, cyber-security agencies from eight countries, including Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., issued an advisory saying state-aligned hackers in China were responsible for multiple malicious attacks on government agencies and the private sector. 

The hacking of the PIF Secretariat comes against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical competition in the Pacific Islands, as the U.S. and allies like Australia push back against China’s inroads in the region.

That diplomatic wrangling was revealed at the 53rd meeting of PIF leaders in Tonga last month amid accusations of Chinese interference in the final communique. 

A reference affirming Taiwan’s status as a development partner in the first official version was published online, then taken down and replaced with a second version with it missing.

When asked about the matter on Friday, Waqa said Taiwan’s status had been discussed at the final leaders’ retreat, but reference to the self-governing island should not have been included in the final communique.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.