China Poised to Hit U.S. Infrastructure: FBI Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray is again sounding the alarm about China’s intentions to attack U.S. infrastructure via malware, saying the cyber threat posed by the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is “massive.”
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, the annual gathering of global security leaders that was otherwise dominated by talk of Ukraine, Russia, and the Middle East, Director Wray said China is planning to insert malware into U.S. networks at a “scale greater than we’d seen before.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that the director said China is inserting “offensive weapons within our critical infrastructure poised to attack whenever Beijing decides the time is right.”
Director Wray declined to name specific threats and what critical infrastructure may be targeted.
Critical infrastructure includes the computer systems that control the U.S. electrical grid, air traffic system, drinking water, oil and gas pipelines, internet service providers, and other critical services.
At the conference, the director also cited the recent disruption of Volt Typhoon, a Chinese-backed hacking operation, saying the hackers “were hiding inside our networks, lying in wait for the moment China might choose to use their access to hurt American civilians” before the network was disrupted.
He also mentioned the threat of pre-positioning, which European officials have described as the cyber equivalent of pointing a ballistic missile at critical infrastructure.
Calls for International Cooperation
Meanwhile, the FBI is pressuring governments in Europe and Asia to step up and assist with the Chinese hacking threat.
“I am seeing more from Europe,” said Director Wray. “We’re laser focused on this as a real threat and we’re working with a lot of partners to try to identify it, anticipate it and disrupt it.”
The comments come a few weeks after Director Wray and other U.S. national security officials testified about the threat from China in front of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Director Wray and others issued similar warnings to lawmakers, about the intention and ability of China-backed hackers to attack U.S. infrastructure.