During a security symposium, FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed that Chinese hackers have everything in place to launch a cyberattack on U.S. infrastructure.
Wray told attendees that China has the “ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing.” (RELATED: Report: FBI Opens Criminal Probe Into Baltimore Bridge Collapse)
He further claimed that Beijing's agents have infiltrated U.S. energy, telecommunications and utility companies and lie in wait for orders to strike.
Wray added: “The PRC [People's Republic of China] has made it clear that it considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage, and that its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic and break America's will to resist.”
As Voice of America reports:
“China-sponsored hackers pre-positioned for potential cyberattacks against U.S. oil and natural gas companies way back in 2011,” Wray told the audience at a Vanderbilt University security conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
“It took the hackers all of 15 minutes to steal data related to the control and monitoring systems while ignoring financial and business-related information, which suggests their goals were even more sinister than stealing a leg up economically,” he said.
Multiple U.S. agencies, led by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, warned in February that hackers associated with a Chinese-linked group known as Volt Typhoon had been hiding in key computer systems and networks for at least five years.
At the time, CISA's director said China's penetration of key systems linked to U.S. communications, energy, water and wastewater, and transportation sectors was “likely the tip of the iceberg.”
Wray referred to Chinese attempts to hide in plain sight on U.S. soil as “living off the land,” noting the strategy is an integral part of Beijing's plans of global domination. (RELATED: Why Are There 270 Illegal Communist Chinese Marijuana Farms In This US State And What Are They Planning?)
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