Nashville. Hackers linked to the Chinese government have infiltrated critical infrastructure in the United States and are waiting for “the opportune moment to deliver a devastating blow,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday.
A Chinese hacking campaign known as Volt Typhoon gained access to numerous US companies in telecommunications, energy, water and other critical sectors, with 23 pipeline operators in its sights, Wray said in a speech at Vanderbilt University.
China is developing the “ability to wreak physical havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing,” Wray declared at the 2024 Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflicts and Emerging Threats. “Their plan is to strike low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic,” he said.
Wray added that it was difficult to determine the intent of this cyber prepositioning which was aligned with China’s broader intent to deter the United States from defending Taiwan.
Earlier this week, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson claimed that Volt Typhoon was not linked to the Chinese government, but was instead part of a criminal data hijacking group.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Washington referred to the MAE spokesperson’s comment: “Some in the United States have been using origin tracing of cyber attacks as a tool to hit and blame China, claiming that the United States is the victim when it is the other way around, and politicizing cybersecurity issues.
Wray claimed that Chinese hackers operated a series of botnets (constellations of compromised personal computers and servers around the world) to conceal their malicious cyber activities. American private sector technology and cybersecurity companies had already attributed Volt Typhoon to China, including reports from security researchers at Microsoft and Google.
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– 2024-04-24 07:05:52
