Sounds kind of like the plot of Mission Impossible IIIor a Dan Brown book.

Hackers with links to the Chinese government reportedly set their sights on a rather high-profile target. They accessed the online networks of the Vatican, according to Reuters and an in-depth investigation by the New York Times.

U.S. cybersecurity firm Recorded Future published a report on Tuesday detailing the cyberattacks, which targeted the Vatican, headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, and other Church-related organizations.

The hacker group was identified by the firm as RedDelta, "a Chinese-state sponsored threat activity group tracked by Insikt Group." The cyberattacks reportedly began in early May 2020 and led up to September, when the Vatican and China were set to negotiate the renewal of a historic 2018 provisional deal between the Holy See (the government of the Catholic Church, which operates from Vatican City) and China, which set terms of how the Church operates in China, particularly in how bishops are appointed.

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"The suspected intrusion into the Vatican would offer RedDelta insight into the negotiating position of the Holy See ahead of the deal's September 2020 renewal," reads Recorded Future's report, which also notes the attack could provide information about the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong's position on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

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"The targeting of the Hong Kong Study Mission and its Catholic Diocese could also provide a valuable intelligence source for both monitoring the diocese’s relations with the Vatican and its position on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement amidst widespread protests and the recent sweeping Hong Kong national security law."

Recorded Future also suggested "the targeting of entities related to the Catholic Church is likely indicative of CCP [Communist Party of China] objectives in consolidating control over the 'underground' Catholic church and 'sinicizing religions' in China."

The New York Timesinvestigation noted that Recorded Future published details of exactly how the attacks were executed, and they're quite fascinating. One involved a seemingly official letter using the official letterhead of Vatican leaders and sent as an electronic file to the head of the Hong Kong Study Mission to China, whose predecessor played a part in the 2018 deal. The move is dubbed by the firm as "a Vatican-themed phishing lure," and was sent after "signs of an intrusion within the Vatican network."

"It is currently unclear whether the actors created the document themselves, or whether it is a legitimate document they were able to obtain and weaponize," adds the report. "Given that the letter was directly addressed to this individual, it is likely that he was the target of a spearphishing attempt."

The Vatican has not issued a public statement on the matter. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, Reuters reported, described China as a "staunch defender" of cybersecurity at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday, and denied any government-ordered hacking.

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