China-linked hackers using everyday devices to hide attacks, cyber agencies warn

People are silhouetted as they pose with mobile devices in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - International cyber agencies on Thursday urged organisations to better defend against covert networks used by China-linked hackers to conceal malicious cyber activity, according to Britain's National Cyber Security Centre.

The NCSC published the new guidance alongside industry and 15 international partners from across eight other countries: the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain.

Covert networks, usually made up of what the NCSC described as vulnerable everyday internet-connected devices such as home routers and smart devices, are used to target critical sectors globally, steal sensitive data, and maintain persistent access.

"In recent years, we have seen a deliberate shift in cyber groups based in China utilising these networks to hide their malicious activity in an attempt to avoid accountability," NCSC director of operations Paul Chichester said in a statement.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The new guidance - jointly issued with agencies including the U.S.'s Federal Bureau of Investigation - warns that attacks can be hard to detect because evidence can disappear quickly, complicating efforts to disrupt such activity.

The advisory comes a day after Richard Horne, the head of the NCSC, warned Britain to brace for a rise in cyberattacks directly or indirectly from nation states, including China, Iran and Russia.

He said his agency had continued to handle about four nationally significant cyber incidents a week on average and that the highest-impact attacks were increasingly tied to governments rather than criminal gangs alone.

Britain has also called on leading AI companies to work with the government to build AI-powered cyber-defence capabilities to protect critical national infrastructure.

(Reporting by Muvija M and Sam Tabahriti, additional reporting by Beijing newsroom, editing by William James)