Thousands of EU diplomatic cables hacked: Report

Hackers accessed the European Union’s diplomatic communications network for years, downloading cables that revealed concerns about the Trump administration, struggles to deal with Russia and China, and the risk of Iran reviving its nuclear programme, the New York Times has reported.

More than 1,100 cables were supplied to the Times by the security firm Area 1 after it discovered the breach, the newspaper said, adding that Area 1 investigators believed the hackers worked for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

The cables include memorandums of conversations with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Israel and other countries that were shared across the EU, according to the report.

European officials say that information marked as confidential and secret was not affected by the three-year hack.

One expert told the New York Times that the methods used by the hackers were similar to those previously used by the Chinese military.

"After over a decade of experience countering Chinese cyber-operations... there is no doubt this campaign is connected to the Chinese government," he said.

The intercepted messages, known as diplomatic cables, reveal one exchange in which diplomats describe July's meeting between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as "successful (at least for Putin)".

Another message gives details of a private meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and European officials that took place earlier this year.

It quotes Xi as saying China "would not submit to bullying" from Washington "even if a trade war hurt everybody".

These comments echo a speech he gave on Tuesday in which he said: "no-one is in a position to dictate to the Chinese people what should or should not be done".

A number of other institutions, including the United Nations, were also reportedly affected by the breach and have since been alerted.

The hackers also infiltrated the networks of the UN, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), and ministries of foreign affairs and finance worldwide, the report added.