The White House is publicly accusing China of a cyberattack on Microsoft that compromised thousands of computers. The hackers were able to steal the private data of governments and businesses around the world.

The cyberattack is thought to have started in January.  Computers injected with malware secretly monitored the systems of businesses, local and state governments, and even military contractors.

According to the Biden Administration, at least one other US company was hit with ransom demands.

CISA along with the FBI, and the  National Security Agency issued a joint advisory on ways that government agencies and businesses could protect themselves from such attacks. And also gave technical details of the Chinese hackers indicted in the cyber attacks.

They warned that state-backed Chinese hackers were responsible for the Microsoft attack.

On Monday the Department of Justice announced that they brought indictments of 4 Chinese nationals. A federal grand jury in San Diego indicted four residents of China. The unsealed indictment says there was "a campaign to hack into the computer systems of dozens of victim companies, universities and government entities in the United States and abroad between 2011 and 2018."

The hackers were accused of working with official sanction from Beijing

The indictment was unsealed Friday. It is alleging a conspiracy to steal data with a "significant economic benefit to China's companies and commercial sectors, including information that would allow the circumvention of lengthy and resource-intensive research and development processes."

Allies accuse China of cyberattacks

On Sunday, reporters were told that the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and NATO are confronting Beijing's Ministry of State Security for the malware cyberattacks.

And U.S. allies are now all accusing China. And condemning them for global hacking. Their allies are publically siding with the U.S. 

EU policy chief Josep Borrell made a statement on Monday about the hacking. It was allegedly "conducted from the territory of China for the purpose of intellectual property theft and espionage."

U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also issued a statement. He claims China's actions are "a reckless but familiar pattern of behavior."

He demands that "The Chinese Government must end this systematic cyber sabotage and can expect to be held to account if it does not."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted. He says that the alliance "stands in solidarity with all those affected by malicious cyber activities, including the Microsoft Exchange Server compromise. We call on all states, including China, to uphold their international obligations & act responsibly."

Heightened concern over ransomware attacks highlights the focus on China’s threat in cyberspace. And for the first time, the world seems united in accusing China of cybercrime.