US and UK announce sanctions over China-linked hacks on officials, lawmakers and election watchdog

abcnews.go.com:

The U.S. and British governments have announced sanctions against a company and two people linked to the Chinese government over a string of malicious cyberactivity targeting officials, lawmakers and the U.K.’s election watchdog

LONDON — The U.S. and British governments on Monday announced sanctions against a company and two individuals linked to the Chinese government over a string of malicious cyberactivity, detailing a yearslong state-backed operation that targeted officials, lawmakers and the U.K.'s election watchdog.

British officials said those sanctioned are responsible for a hack that may have gained access to information on tens of millions of U.K. voters held by the Electoral Commission, as well as for cyberespionage targeting lawmakers who have been outspoken about threats from China.

The Foreign Office said the hack of the election registers “has not had an impact on electoral processes, has not affected the rights or access to the democratic process of any individual, nor has it affected electoral registration.”

The Electoral Commission said in August that “hostile actors” had gained access to its servers from around 2021 to 2022.

At the time, the watchdog said the data included the names and addresses of registered voters. But it said that much of the information was already in the public domain.

In Washington, the Treasury Department said it sanctioned Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company Ltd., which it calls a Chinese Ministry of State Security front company that has “served as cover for multiple malicious cyberoperations.”

It named two Chinese nationals, Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, affiliated with the Wuhan company, for cyberoperations that targeted U.S. critical infrastructure sectors