Chinese Hackers Plan To Wreak Havoc In The US, Warns The FBI

FBI director Christopher Wray warned that cyber hackers working for the Chinese government are planning to cause major disruptions in the US.

Their attack plan is likely to target transportation networks, water infrastructure, and the power grid.

After Wray’s meeting with US politicians, he’s now expected to talk to the House Select Committee On The Chinese Communist Party.

He will not only raise concerns about the issue at hand but also highlight how little attention is being paid to a matter that will affect almost every American citizen.

He already has a copy of the statements that he plans to make. We managed to find some excerpts from it—here are some of them:

• “China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike.”
• “Today, and literally every day, they’re actively attacking our economic security, engaging in wholesale theft of our innovation, and our personal and corporate data.”

It’s not just assumptions. The statements made by Wray are backed by data offered by private cyber security firms that have warned about China’s dangerous plans.

In fact, a malicious group from China (Volt Typhoon) recently attempted to break into sensitive American infrastructure and they also managed to infect countless end-of-life routers.

Thankfully, officials were swift in taking action and allowed the FBI to not only issue warrants but also launch a remote command to wipe the Volt Typhoon’s botnet clean.

What makes this issue even more dangerous is once inside, the Volt Typhoon team uses legitimate IP addresses and credentials, making it almost impossible to detect.

China has also been accused by US firm Mandiant of breaking into thousands of private and public sectors across the world by exploiting a security flaw in a popular email application.

These events alone are sufficient data to prove that the threat of China is no longer theoretical.

Why Is China Attacking The US Infrastructure?

While there’s no solid evidence behind any of the theories, some officials believe that China plans to time the attack with its invasion of Taiwan. Even if the US decides to help Taiwan, it will be too busy sorting out major crises in its own country.

Along with the threat to the USA’s infrastructure, China also seems to have cyber control over the country through AI deep fakes, social media sites, and other destructive cyber tools that could easily tamper with the US elections.

China continues to deny all allegations despite solid evidence. A committee was established to counter China’s action and in 2022, Mr Wray also joined hands with MI5 to issue a joint warning to China.

However, it seems like the talks aren’t achieving the required results. The threat still persists and in the FBI’s words, how the Chinese Intelligence Services and other agencies are handling the matter is still pretty intense and concerning.