Subj : FBI claims China could be set to launch attacks on US infrastruct
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Fri Apr 19 2024 13:45:04

FBI claims China could be set to launch attacks on US infrastructure any day

Date:
Fri, 19 Apr 2024 12:35:29 +0000

Description:
Earlier attacks by Chinese attackers on US infrastructure were just practice, 
with the worst possibly still yet to come.

FULL STORY
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Chinese hacking group Volt Typhoon has infested systems used to manage US 
infrastructure and is now waiting for the opportune moment to strike, FBI 
Director Christopher Wray has said. 

The systems affected are used to control water, energy, and 
telecommunications among other sectors, with previous attacks linked to 
Chinese hacker groups possibly being practice attacks in order to create a 
playbook for an attack on a larger scale. 

China has already begun its campaign of election interference and voter 
influence, and cyber attacks could contribute to Chinas overall goal of 
inducing panic and destabilizing the US. Chinese government claims no 
involvement 

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that it bears no 
relationship with the Volt Typhoon group, and has officially deemed it a 
criminal ransomware group, but evidence from threat research organizations at 
Microsoft and Google have found links between the group and the Chinese 
state. 

Speaking at the Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging threats, 
Wray said that the group was working on behalf of China to build up its 
ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of 
its choosing, and that the group was waiting for just the right moment to 
deal a devastating blow. 

Following the election of pro-independence candidate president Lai Ching-te 
in the Taiwan elections, China has stepped up its posturing and rhetoric for 
reunification, with Wray stating that China intends to use its ability to 
attack critical US infrastructure as a deterrence against US defense of 
Taiwan. 

It's not just US critical infrastructure under threat, as multiple government 
agencies have recently had emails breached and stolen by Russian hackers 
abusing a vulnerability in Microsofts corporate email accounts . 

APT29, also tracked as Midnight Blizzard, has strong links to Russias Foreign 
Intelligence Service and used a sequence of critical Microsoft 
vulnerabilities in order to breach the agencies, who have not been named nor 
the extent of the damage disclosed. 

Via Reuters More from TechRadar Pro Microsoft says Russian interference in US 
elections is already underway, and it's more effective than you think Here is 
our guide to the best endpoint protection software around Russian Sandworm 
cybercrime group linked to multiple attacks 




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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/fbi-claims-china-could-be-set-to-launch-attacks-
on-us-infrastructure-any-day


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