FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned that Chinese government-linked hackers have infiltrated critical U.S. infrastructure and are waiting for “the right moment to wreak havoc.”
In a speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday, Wray said that an ongoing Chinese hacking campaign known as “Volt Typhoon” has disrupted numerous U.S. businesses in telecommunications, energy, water, and other critical sectors. It said it had successfully gained access to companies and targeted 23 pipeline operators.
Wray said at the 2024 Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflicts and Emerging Threats that China is developing “the ability to physically wreak havoc on our nation’s critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing.” said.
He added: “The plan is to cause panic by causing a low blow to civilian infrastructure.”
Wray said it is difficult to determine the intent of this cyber pre-positioning, but it is consistent with China’s broader intentions to thwart the United States’ defense of Taiwan.
China claims that Taiwan is its own territory and democratically governed, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan strongly opposes China’s sovereignty claims and says only islanders can decide their future.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that Bolt Typhoon is actually not affiliated with the Chinese government, but is part of a criminal ransomware group.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Washington referenced comments by an MFA spokesperson, saying, “Parts in the United States are using tracking the origin of cyberattacks as a tool to attack and subvert China, and the United States is the victim.” It claims to be.” It would do the opposite and politicize cybersecurity issues. ”
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Lei said Chinese hackers operate a series of botnets of compromised computers and servers around the world to hide their malicious cyber activity.
Private U.S. technology and cybersecurity companies have long believed that China was the cause of Bolt Typhoon, including reports from security researchers at Microsoft and Google.
