Western governments struggle to coordinate response to Chinese hacking

Seven individuals associated with the APT31 hacking outfit are accused of sending more than 10,000 malicious emails to politicians, officials, journalists and critics of China. Photograph: Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images/iStockphoto

With the announcement that the UK government would be imposing sanctions on two individuals and one entity accused of targeting – without success – UK parliamentarians in cyber-attacks in 2021, the phrase “tip of the iceberg” comes to mind. But that would underestimate the iceberg.

James Cleverly, the home secretary, said the sanctions were a sign that “targeting our elected representatives and electoral processes will never go unchallenged”.