Authorities in the US and UK have filed charges and imposed sanctions against China on grounds of a suspected mass cyberespionage campaign that impacted millions of people.

The campaign was carried out by the Advanced Persistent Threat 31 (APT31) hacking group, which has been classified as an arm of the Chinese Ministry of State Security by the White House and Downing Street.

Specific targets of the campaign included government officials and politicians from around the world who have been critical of Beijing.

Deputy US attorney general Lisa Monaco added in a statement that the spying operation, which has lasted more than a decade, was designed to “repress critics of the Chinese regime, compromise government institutions, and steal trade secrets."

US prosecutors have brought charges against seven alleged Chinese hackers. According to Reuters, the prosecutors argued that the hacking resulted in confirmed or potential compromises of work accounts, personal emails, online storage and telephone call records of millions of US citizens.

UK officials meanwhile have accused APT31 of hacking China-critical British lawmakers, and said that a second group of Chinese spies hacked the country’s Electoral Commission in an action which compromised the data of millions of Brits.

Reacting to the legal action, the Chinese Embassy in London called the charges "completely fabricated and malicious slanders."

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