Chair foreign affairs select-committee Els Van Hoof hacked by Chinese spies says FBI
In 2021 data belonging to Els Van Hoof (Flemish Christian democrat/CD&V), the chair of the foreign affairs select-committee of the lower house of the Belgian parliament, was hacked by Chinese spies, according to America’s FBI. Ms Van Hoof is believed to have opened several emails, allowing hackers to obtain her IP address. "They wanted to intimidate me, but I'm not going to give in," the lawmaker responded.
MP Els Van Hoof is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). That is an international association of parliamentarians working on human rights in China. It means that the politician is a thorn in the side of the Chinese regime.
As early as 2021, there were suspicions that something was going on with Ms Van Hoof's laptop. After a check by Belgian state security officials, nothing else happened.
Until now, that is. An FBI report has surfaced in a lawsuit against 7 Chinese nationals accused of spying on Americans. It shows that Chinese spies penetrated Ms Van Hoof's laptop via an e-mail.
"They looked like emails from an international agency," Van Hoof says. "The emails were about Donald Trump and human rights. They seemed very innocent and informative. But the intention was to get into our systems."
The impact of the cyber-attack is still unclear. According to the FBI report, the Chinese were able to obtain laptop IP addresses. "State security told me that they could not find out what the spies saw and tracked, but that I should assume it was everything".
"That's like them breaking into your house. You're left feeling uncomfortable and at some point, you get really paranoid. The intention, of course, is to intimidate and silence us."
According to Ms Van Hoof, the intimidation doesn't stop there. "For example, the Chinese ambassador has already intimidated me several times. I have already received letters saying I am playing with fire. We also wanted to hold a hearing on the situation of Uighurs in China. When we wanted to start, the whole system went down."
Plea for a security office for MPs
"But I don't want to give in and I want to keep saying my opinion about Taiwan, for example, or the situation of the Uighurs, but I do want better protection." Ms Van Hoof is now advocating the creation of a security office in parliament. In cooperation with state security they could give security briefings to MPs and permanently update them on digital security.
"Anyone can be a target. I can imagine that intimidation does work with people who are in a more difficult position and don’t get the support at home I enjoy. You would quit your job for less. And that, of course, is not the intention."