US officials announced that they have dismantled the Chinese hacker group Former Typhoon, who attacked political infrastructurebut the Federal Constitutional Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned of future threats if the two superpowers ever fight.
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The hacker group Volt Typhoon, allegedly funded by the state of China, allegedly seeks to cause damage to public sector facilities, such as water treatment plants, the electricity grid, oil and gas pipelines, and transportation systems, at the behest of China.
FBI Director, Christopher Wray, warned on Wednesday that the Beijing will position himself to disrupt the daily lives of Americans if the U.S. and China ever go to war, as he spoke before the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
He said there has been very little public attention to a cyber threat affecting "every American“.
The hackers China are hacking into U.S. infrastructure in order to cause chaos and real damage to American citizens and communities if China decides it's time to strike, Wray added.
According to the FBI, Chinese hackers managed to hack into a botnet of hundreds of small office and home office routers owned by individuals and companies in the US, with the aim of covering their tracks while they were spreading the malware.
The routers were easy targets as they were no longer supported by their manufacturer's security patches or software updates. This was just one of the methods the hackers used to distract from their activity.
The Volt Typhoon hackers had also infiltrated through other channels, including providers cloud and the internet, presenting themselves as a normal movement.
Notable targets included water treatment facilities, electrical infrastructure and transmission systems throughout the United States.
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FBI and Justice Department officials managed to disrupt at least part of Operation Volt Typhoon after obtaining search and seizure warrants in federal court in Houston, Texas, in December.
In recent years, the United States has shown increased aggression in its efforts to thwart and weaken criminal and state-sponsored cyberattacks.
Η Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Security Infrastructure Division, said too little attention is being paid to a cyber threat that could affect all Americans, causing "social panic and chaos" and preventing the country's ability to "respond adequately" at crucial moments.
Wray warned that Beijing-backed hackers are aiming to steal business secrets to promote the Chinese economy and steal personal information for foreign influence campaigns.
Cybersecurity companies, including Microsoft, had already warned in May that Chinese state-backed hackers had attacked critical infrastructure in preparation for future crises.
See also: Chinese hackers accidentally infected a European hospital with malware
What are the implications of a Chinese cyber threat for the international community?
The Chinese cyber threat has many implications for the international community.
- First, a cyber threat from China could lead to significant loss of intellectual property and trade secrets from companies and organisations around the world.
- Second, a Chinese cyber threat could lead to disruptions in digital infrastructure, such as power grids, telecommunications networks and IT systems, which could cause significant economic losses and disruptions to daily life.
- Third, a Chinese cyber threat can have implications for the national security of countries, as cyber attacks can be used for espionage, disinformation and to influence political processes.
- Finally, a Chinese cyber threat may lead to increased political tension and competition between China and other countries, as cyber attacks can be seen as attacks on the sovereignty and Security of the nations.
Source: aljazeera
