China hacked Asian telcos to spy on Uighur travellers: sources

As part of the campaign, different groups of Chinese hackers have compromised telecoms operators in countries including Turkey, Kazakhstan, India, Thailand and Malaysia, the four sources said. — Reuters

LONDON: Hackers working for the Chinese government have broken into telecoms networks to track Uighur travellers in Central and South-East Asia, two intelligence officials and two security consultants who investigated the attacks told Reuters.

The hacks are part of a wider cyber-espionage campaign targeting "high-value individuals" such as diplomats and foreign military personnel, the sources said. But China has also prioritised tracking the movements of ethnic Uighurs, a minority mostly Muslim group considered a security threat by Beijing.