Republican Sen. Marco Rubio warned on social media that the AT&T outage, which affected tens of thousands of Americans, pales in comparison to a potential Chinese cyberattack.
“We don’t know what caused the AT&T outage,” the Florida Republican posted on Thursday. “But we know that if #China launches a cyber attack on America on the eve of #Taiwan invasion, things would be 100x worse.”
“And it’s not just cell phone service that they attack; they attack electricity, water, and banks.”
Mr. Rubio’s warning was given to tens of thousands of AT&T customers. Reported outage Downdetector said phone, internet and cell phone service was back up at the home Thursday morning.
Chinese hackers had access to our infrastructure ‘at least five years’ before discovery
Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida and ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, during a hearing on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in Washington, DC, USA.Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The outages began occurring just before 3:30 a.m. ET, according to graphs posted on a website that tracks outages.
Most users (54%) say they have the following issues: Mobile phone service. More than a third of customers who reported being affected said they had no signal at all, and 8% of users said their mobile internet was down.
U.S. on alert as China hacks critical systems: What you can do
A person holding a mobile phone and displaying an app (Kurt “Cyber Guy” Knutson)
“Some customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning,” AT&T told FOX Business in a statement. “We are working urgently to restore service. We recommend using Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.”
As of 9:30 a.m. ET, more than 74,000 AT&T users had reported an outage to Down Detector.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Chinese President Xi Jinping discusses the country’s economic and social development at a political rally in Beijing, China. (Zhang Lintao/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that Chinese cyberattacks against the United States and its allies were reaching a “climax.”
“Your company may be targeted by the Chinese Communist Party’s proxy network, harassed or hacked,” Lei told the assembled leaders. into German. “We might also find the People’s Republic of China. [People’s Republic of China] Hackers lurk in power plants, phone companies, and other infrastructure, and they can destroy them if they think you’re too far-fetched and harming civilians suits the Chinese Communist Party. I’m ready to do that. ”
“Chinese-backed hackers were preparing for a potential cyberattack on U.S. oil and gas companies in 2011, and have recently reached near-climax levels.” he continued. “What we’re seeing now is that China is building up its offensive arsenal within our nation’s critical infrastructure, ready to strike whenever Beijing deems the time is right. is.”
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report
