FBI: Chinese hacked computer Els Van Hoof, Foreign Affairs committee chairman reacts shocked | Domestic

Until now: in a lawsuit against seven Chinese, an FBI report has surfaced, showing that Chinese spies accessed Van Hoof’s laptop via an email. The Chinese are not only accused of espionage against Americans, but also of espionage against members of IPAC, an international association of parliamentarians who work on human rights in China, and are therefore a thorn in the side of the Chinese regime. Both Van Hoof and its vice-chairman Samuel Cogolati (Ecolo) are members of that association. They both opened the hackers’ email in 2021.

The impact of the cyber attack is not clear. According to the FBI report, the Chinese were able to obtain the IP address of the laptops. This would mean that they have been able to track the whereabouts of the victims’ laptops since 2021.

The Chinese ambassador has intimidated me several times. But I don’t want to give in and continue to say my opinion about Taiwan, for example

Van Hoof reacts shocked to the news in the newspaper. “The very fact that the Chinese regime can locate me is very threatening,” she says. She frames the hacking in a series of threats that she says she has been feeling from the regime for several years. “For example, the Chinese ambassador has intimidated me several times. But I do not want to give in and continue to express my opinion about, for example, Taiwan or the situation of the Uyghurs,” said Van Hoof.

Van Hoof is now calling for the establishment of a security agency in Parliament. This could, in collaboration with State Security, provide security briefings to parliamentarians and permanently update them on digital security.