Cyberscoop reports hackers posed as UCANews.com journalists in order to gain an advantage for China in negotiations with the Holy See.

Researchers at the security firm Recorded Future first identified hackers affiliated with a group called Mustang Panda in July.

The hacker group was conducting espionage against targets involved in negotiations around the operations of the Catholic Church in China.

Information on Catholicism in China has been of keen interest to the Chinese government since the Vatican cut off diplomatic relations with China in 1951.

After a brief halt to their activities, the hackers changed their approach, making detection more difficult.

The latest spate of targeting has included ‘spoofed' email headers including specific lures about the provisional agreement between the Vatican Holy See and the Chinese Communist Party.

Hidden in the email is malware which allows a remote user to steal data. They can even take control of affected systems without permission or authorization.

The findings show how intent hackers are on collecting intelligence on entities involved in diplomacy between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party.

The resurgence of the hacker campaign came just days before the Vatican announced it had officially extended an agreement with Beijing about the appointment of Bishops in China.

Cybersecurity expert Andrew Jenkinson of Cybersec Innovation Partners in London has expressed concern over the Vatican internet security and vulnerability to cyber-attacks.

The Vatican has a sprawling system of websites, they are administered by the Internet Office of the Holy See.

The Vatican's web presence has expanded steadily since it launched its main website, www.vatican.va, in 1995.

Jenkinson noted that www.vatican.va remained "not secure" months after the breach was reported earlier this year.

Sources

Cyberscoop

Tech Radar

Zen flew to Rome to deliver his letter so it could be delivered without delay to the pope.

His request came while Vatican diplomats are working against the clock to refresh the Vatican's September 2018 deal with Beijing on the appointment of bishops.

Many people are picking one of Hong Kong's vicars general, Father Peter Choi, may be named as the new prelate.

Choi is held to be "close" to Beijing.

If Choi were appointed, it would sideline Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing.

The Auxiliary Bishop is a critic of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments. He is also close to Zen.

"This year we are waiting in Hong Kong to have our bishop. It's more than one and a half years that we have no bishop. And now the whole atmosphere is very much political, so I would like to remind the Holy Father that we really need a bishop who is a good shepherd for the flock," Zen says.

"I remember that at the beginning of his [Francis's] pontificate, he gave many recommendations: ‘A bishop should be like this and they should not be like that …'

"And so, I hope he remembers all those things ... and not to pay too much importance to the political aspect of the problem."

Source

• UCA News
• Image: UCA News

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's secretary for Relations with States, and the foreign minister of the People's Republic of China and counsellor of state, Wang Yi, met in Germany last Friday.

They were both attending the Munich Security Conference and convened outside the formal agenda to that annual event.

It is considered to be the highest-level meeting between the Vatican and China since communist rule began in China in 1949.

The Vatican said the diplomats met in "a cordial climate" and "recalled the contacts between the two sides that had developed positively over time."

Gallagher and Wang's discussion "highlighted the importance of the Provisional Agreement on the [2018] Nomination of Bishops ...", the Vatican reported, and "renewed the will to pursue the institutional dialogue at a bilateral level to foster the life of the Catholic Church and the good of the Chinese people."

During their meeting the diplomats discussed the 2018 deal between the Vatican and China giving the Vatican the final say on the appointment of bishops in China - a matter of some contention up until that point.

The two sides also agreed to continue "institutional, bi-lateral dialogue" aimed at benefiting both the Catholic Church and the Chinese people.

The Vatican's statement concluded by expressing the mutual hope "for greater international cooperation so as to promote civil coexistence and peace in the world."

It also said the two sides "exchanged considerations on intercultural dialogue and human rights."

While relations between the Vatican and China have improved since the 2018 deal, and both sides now recognise the pope as supreme leader of the Catholic Church, conservative Catholics say the Vatican sold out to the communist government.

Source

• America Magazine
• Reuters.com
• Image: America Magazine

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