New Zealand names China its main state cyber threat — Jerusalem Post
New Zealand’s National Cyber Security Centre said that China is the most persistent and capable state actor conducting cyber activity in the country. This is stated in the agency’s annual report, The Jerusalem Post reports.
Risks to sensitive information
The National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of New Zealand’s intelligence community, reported detected activity that likely originated from foreign state actors and posed risks to the country’s sensitive information.
The report linked suspected state cyber activity to actors from China, the Russian Federation — an aggressor state, Iran and North Korea. At the same time, the centre described China as the most persistent and capable state actor conducting cyber activity in New Zealand.
This is another warning by a Western intelligence service about suspected Chinese cyber espionage. Beijing has previously denied such accusations. In August, New Zealand’s security service reported that China was the only country the state had identified as conducting espionage “on a significant scale.”
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369 incidents in a year
In the year to June 2026, the NCSC recorded 369 cyber incidents that could have had national significance. In 86 cases, there were likely links to state-backed actors. Targets included government agencies, organizations in the healthcare and education sectors, as well as managed IT service providers.
The centre also warned of intensifying geopolitical competition in the South Pacific and said it was aware of state cyber espionage targeting governments and infrastructure in the region. Such actors may conduct reconnaissance and establish access to systems for months or years before using it to collect intelligence or disrupt network operations.
Prolonged infiltration of systems may lead to the compromise of operational technology and the loss of corporate and personal data, the agency said.
