Verhofstadt is the fifth Belgian official to be targeted by the Chinese hacker group APT31 for his actions. Work on China through IPAC, Other targeted Belgian officials include Green MP Samuel Cogolati; Else Van Hoof, Chairman of the Belgian Foreign Affairs Committee; Hilde Wattmans, a Liberal MEP; and Georges Delmagne, a federal deputy.
Last week, Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahabib Summoned Chinese ambassador on allegations.
caress yourself told Politico That he was targeted in the same year 2021 Beijing also banned him along with other EU lawmakers, The cyber attacks were brought to Cogolati’s attention through an email from the Center for Cyber Security Belgium in February 2023.
According to a US FBI letter sent to Cigolatti on April 5, the 2021 hacking campaign targeted the .gov-style accounts of EU legislators who were members of IPAC. The criminals registered and used 10 accounts to send more than 1,000 emails to more than 400 individuals associated with IPAC.
In Van Hoof’s case, detectives targeted her laptop via an email that looked like it came from an international agency, she told a local radio show.
“The emails were about Donald Trump and human rights. They seemed very innocent and informative. But the intent was to get into our system,” he said.