Targeting water treatment, power grid, pipelines, transportation system, etc.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced that it has blocked a major Chinese-related hacking group targeting U.S. infrastructure.
According to U.S. economic media CNBC on the 31st (local time), FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a House Communist Party special committee hearing that they had blocked a hacking group ‘Volt Typhoon’ that receives support from China.
Christopher Wray explained that Volt Typhoon had hacked hundreds of office and home office routers (network connection devices) allowing the Chinese government to access data. He added that the routers were old, making them an “easy target”.
The hacker group targeted U.S. water treatment facilities, power grids, oil and natural gas pipelines, and transportation systems. He emphasized, “Today, they are actively attacking our economic security by literally cutting off our innovation and personal and corporate data in large quantities.”
Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said at the hearing that hacking is becoming increasingly sophisticated. She warned that Chinese hackers can infiltrate computer operating systems in ways that are difficult to identify. She added, “They have enhanced their ability to act like system administrators, so it’s impossible to know they are Chinese.”
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