Police in Japan and the government's cybersecurity center have warned that hackers tied to the Chinese government are launching attacks on governments and firms.

The National Police Agency and the National center of Incident readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity, or NISC, on Wednesday released an advisory concerning the BlackTech hacking group with the US National Security Agency and other US entities.

The group has been active since 2010. It is believed to be attacking governments in East Asia, including Japan's, as well as the US administration, to steal sensitive data. The telecommunication sector has also been subject to attack.

The NPA says suspicions that BlackTech has carried out attacks against Japanese organizations have surfaced.

The warning notes that the hackers have exploited routers when targeting companies by gaining access to the internal networks of their overseas subsidiaries to infiltrate the headquarters' networks, their primary targets.

The advisory recommends upgrading devices and monitoring for changes to firmware.