Singapore’s Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs, K. Shanmugam, recently revealed that a hacker group codenamed “UNC3886” has been launching APT attacks on Singapore for a long time. According to a report from a cybersecurity agency cited by Singapore media, UNC3886 is a cyber espionage organization related to China. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Singapore responded to this today, firmly opposing any unwarranted smear campaign against China.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the Singapore Cyber Security Agency celebrated its 10th anniversary on the 18th. Shanmugam revealed on the same day that between 2021 and 2024, suspected attacks related to Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) increased more than fourfold. One of the organizations that has been launching such attacks on Singapore for a long time is a hacker group codenamed “UNC3886”.
Lianhe Zaobao pointed out that according to Mandiant, a cyber security agency that has been tracking “UNC3886”, it is a cyber espionage organization related to China. Its attack targets are spread across Southeast Asia, Asia, North America, Europe and Africa, mainly targeting government agencies, as well as key infrastructure such as defense, communications, energy and public services.
The Straits Times also quoted Mandiant’s report as saying that “UNC3886” is a state-sponsored APT group whose purpose is to conduct intelligence gathering and long-term monitoring and infiltration. “UNC3886” will use customized malicious programs and legitimate tools that already exist in the victim’s device to evade detection. Even if it is discovered and removed, it will try to infiltrate the target network again.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Singapore said that it has noticed that on July 19, Singapore Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Asia News and other media reported that Singapore was attacked by a cyber attack organization UNC3886, citing the so-called information of a certain country’s cyber security company, claiming that the organization is related to China. China expressed strong dissatisfaction with this and firmly opposed any unwarranted smear against China.
The spokesperson said that in fact, China is one of the main victims of cyber attacks. Hereby reiterate: China firmly opposes and cracks down on any form of cyber attacks in accordance with the law, and will not encourage, support or condone hacker attacks. Cyber security is a global challenge. China is willing to continue to cooperate with all parties, including Singapore, to jointly maintain the security of cyberspace.
