The US National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Japanese police jointly warned multinational companies about the China-linked BlackTech hacking group in a cybersecurity advisory issued late Wednesday.

The joint advisory, which also comes from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and its Japanese counterpart, asks companies to review the Internet routers of their subsidiaries to minimize the risk of a possible attack by this group .

“BlackTech has demonstrated the ability to modify router firmware undetected and exploit trust relationships between router domains to move from international subsidiaries to headquarters in Japan and the United States, which are the primary targets.” , indicates the press release.

BlackTech has engaged in cyberattacks against governments and technology companies in the United States and East Asia since around 2010, Japan’s National Police Agency said in a separate statement.

In 2020, the security authority of the autonomous island of Taiwan reported cyber attacks targeting the email accounts of about 6,000 government officials, carried out by Blacktech and another hacking group, Taidoor, saying both groups likely had the support of the Chinese Communist Party.

Amid rising tensions between the United States and China over issues such as Taiwan, American security officials are increasing their warnings about China’s cyberattack capabilities. FBI Chief Chris Wray said earlier this month that China “has a hacking program larger than all other major countries combined.”

In May, cybersecurity authorities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom joined US agencies in issuing an advisory about China’s “state-sponsored cyber actor.”

Le Japon, un alié clé des États-Unis en Asie de l’Est avec la Corée du Sud, aurait été attack par des pirates informatiques militaires chinois qui ont eu accès à ses réseaux de defense classifiés en 2020, a déclaré le Washington Post le last month. The Pentagon said it was confident in sharing intelligence with Japan despite the report. (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Michael Perry)