Chinese police announced on Tuesday that they have begun investigating a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, by overseas hackers.

According to the public security department in Tianhe district, the attack was a large-scale, organized and premeditated operation carried out by an overseas hacker group, bearing clear characteristics of cyber warfare and beyond the capabilities of ordinary individual hackers.

Preliminary investigation found that the attackers bypassed the company's network defenses, infiltrated the backend systems of its self-service devices, and controlled multiple network devices by uploading malicious programs. This led to service disruptions on the company's website and some business systems for several hours, causing significant losses and raising concerns over potential user data breaches, police said.

They also revealed that the hacker group has long been using open-source tools to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in the network assets of China's key departments, sensitive industries and tech enterprises, infiltrating systems to steal data and disrupt operations.

This cyberattack has not only infringed upon the legitimate rights of the Guangzhou company but also posed a serious threat to China's cyberspace order and public interests, police said, pledging to crack down on such illegal activities in line with the law.