China’s powerful spy agency has successfully penetrated the computer networks of 24 Cambodian government agencies, in a lesson to developing countries in the Indo-Pacific that getting closer to Beijing doesn’t make them immune from cyberattacks.

As Pacific leaders gather in the Cook Islands for annual talks, analysis by global cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks shows Chinese hackers, masquerading as cloud back-up services, have managed to exfiltrate data from organisations linked to Cambodia’s national defence, elections, human rights, treasury and commerce, politics, natural resources and telecommunications. This data is likely to include financial information as well as identity information.