FirstFT: Leak shows China using private company to hack citizens and foreign states

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Good morning. A large data leak has revealed that Chinese authorities turned to a private company to hack an array of foreign governments and organisations as well as spy on their own citizens.

The cache of documents released online collectively reveal much of the inner workings of Shanghai Anxun Information Technology, also know as I-Soon, and the services that the company provides to Chinese public security authorities.

The files indicate the group’s employees retrieved material ranging from medical records at a Taiwanese hospital during the coronavirus pandemic to call records from Kazakh telecoms carriers. They show the company infiltrated the cyber infrastructure and collected the data of government departments in countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Mongolia.

“We have every reason to believe this is the authentic data of a contractor supporting global and domestic cyber espionage operations out of China,” said John Hultquist, chief analyst at Mandiant Intelligence, part of Google Cloud.

Hultquist speculated that the leak could have come from a rival intelligence service, a dissatisfied insider at Shanghai Anxun or even another Chinese cyber security contractor.

The FT’s Ryan McMorrow has more on the Chinese espionage operation.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Monetary policy: The US Federal Reserve releases its Monetary Policy Report today.

• Japan: Today is a public holiday for the Emperor’s birthday.

• War in Ukraine: The second anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine is on Saturday.

• Elections: The South Carolina Republican primary election takes place on Saturday, while Cambodia has senate elections on Sunday.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. Japan’s main stock market index has climbed past its all-time high after a 34-year wait, exceeding the record level reached during the country’s late-1980s asset bubble. The Nikkei 225 index of the biggest Japanese companies passed its all-time intraday high of 38,957 points during trading yesterday and closed above 39,000 for the first time ever. Leo Lewis reports on a historic day in Tokyo.

2. Elon Musk’s social media platform X has publicly protested against “executive orders” issued by the Indian government that forced it to take down posts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. X yesterday acknowledged blocking accounts and posts in a statement on its site that followed complaints of censorship by journalists and activists covering or involved in a march on New Delhi by Indian farmers. 

3. A bumper earnings report from Nvidia sparked a powerful rally in global stock markets yesterday, boosting technology stocks and pushing indices in the US, Europe and Japan to all-time highs. The chipmaker’s shares surged by 15.5 per cent, adding almost $277bn to Nvidia’s market capitalisation. Here’s how the company’s market impact has become so great.

4. The death of Alexei Navalny has raised alarm among other Russian political prisoners, who fear they could meet a similar fate for challenging the regime of Vladimir Putin. Friends of some of the most prominent activists are lobbying western governments to release them in swaps for Russian spies which, they say, could be the only chance to get the prisoners out alive.

• Related: Russian authorities have said opposition activist Alexei Navalny died of “natural causes” and are threatening to let his body decompose unless he is buried in secret, according to his family.

5. Exclusive: Two of Goldman Sachs’s top investment bankers have threatened to leave after being excluded from a new operating committee established under chief executive David Solomon, according to people familiar with the matter. Here are the bankers who may leave, and why the new committee has caused such unrest.

FT Magazine

The increasingly authoritarian atmosphere inside Russia has lowered the bar for who is deemed a target of state-sponsored poisonings. Now, any Russian critical of President Vladimir Putin or his invasion of Ukraine, even those who may not be considered high-profile enough, is a potential enemy. In this week’s FT Magazine cover story, Russian activist Natalia Arno narrates her suspected poisoning experience in Prague in May 2023.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Xinjiang: With investor confidence in China weak, perhaps Volkswagen and BASF could finally extricate themselves from Xinjiang without a political backlash, writes Peggy Hollinger.

• The myth of the lone writer: Collaboration is encouraged in most creative industries. Why is it taboo for writers? Simon Kuper investigates.

• Artificial intelligence: Steve Jobs once championed the concept of skills diversification. The Apple founder’s advice should give some comfort to anxious workers amid the AI churn, writes Gillian Tett.

Chart of the day

Pakistan’s traditional political power-brokers have unveiled a new coalition government, breaking a two-week impasse following elections. But the incoming administration will be quickly tested by the country’s dire economic circumstances, including high debt, low growth and raging inflation.

Take a break from the news

Here are our six films to watch this week — including The Taste of Things, a mouth-watering tale of care and tradition starring former partners Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel.

Additional contributions from Grace Ramos and Gordon Smith