United States: The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has warned that at this very moment, Chinese hackers joined by the Chinese authorities are focusing their efforts on penetrating deep into the US critical infrastructure and are just waiting “for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow.”
Further Details of the news
The ongoing Chinese hacking campaign, Volt Typhoon, has reportedly breached numerous American companies in telecommunications, energy, water, and other critical sectors. The Guardian reported that 23 pipeline operators were among the targets.
Wray, while giving a speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville at the 2024 Vanderbilt summit on modern conflict and emerging threats, Tennessee, on Thursday, said that China is working on developing the “ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing.”
He also said, “Its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic.”
Difficulty in Determining Hacker Intent
Wray acknowledged the challenge of discerning the hackers’ motives and suggested a potential link to China’s broader goal of hindering US efforts to defend Taiwan, the Guardian reported.
China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has been increasing pressure on the island to accept its authority.
Furthermore, Taiwan straightforwardly renounces China’s sovereignty claims over the country and states that the people of the Island country have the right to govern themselves.
China’s Response
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied government involvement, attributing the attacks to criminal ransomware groups. The Chinese embassy in Washington criticized US attempts to trace cyber-attacks to China, accusing the US of politicizing cybersecurity, as the Guardian reported.
Moreover, a statement released from the China’s embassy in Washington while reverting to the MFA spokesperson’s comment said, “Some in the US have been using origin-tracing of cyber-attacks as a tool to hit and frame China, claiming the US to be the victim while it’s the other way round, and politicizing cybersecurity issues.”
More about Chinese Hacker activities
Wray highlighted China’s use of botnets, networks of compromised computers and servers worldwide, to conceal their cyber activities. Several American tech and cybersecurity companies, including Microsoft and Google, have previously linked Volt Typhoon activities to China.
In summary, Wray’s warnings underscore the escalating cyber threats posed by state-sponsored Chinese hackers to critical US infrastructure.
