The world is a scary place these days. Our enemies are out to get us at every turn.
And the FBI warns of a new Chinese threat that has Americans pressing the panic button.
On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray made a warning to the House Select Committee that Chinese hackers are preparing to “wreak havoc” on American infrastructure.
The United States’ natural gas pipelines, electric grid, water treatment plants, and various transportation systems, are at risk from hackers who work for the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Wray also detailed how these hackers are in greater numbers than the FBI’s cyber workers.
“China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real world harm to American citizens and communities if and when China decides the time has come to strike,” Wray told the committee.
“To quantify what we’re up against, the PRC has a bigger hacking program than that of every major nation combined.”
“In fact, if you took every single one of the FBI cyber agents and intelligence analysts and focus them exclusively on the China threat, China’s hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50-to 1.”
Wray also explained to the lawmakers on the committee that the hackers are part of the PRC’s “multi-pronged assault on our national and economic security.” Wray also noted that this is “the defining threat of our generation.”
The FBI director gave an example of hacking done by China by showing how earlier that day, the FBI found “hundreds of routers,” that a group of Chinese hackers, known as Volt Typhoon, were able to compromise.
“The Volt Typhoon malware enabled China to hide, among other things, pre-operational reconnaissance and network exploitation against critical infrastructure, like our communications, energy, transportation, and water sectors,” Wray said.
“And let’s be clear, cyber threats to our critical infrastructure represent real world threats to our physical safety.”
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) is also concerned about the PRC’s ability to hack U.S. infrastructure.
“The difference here is that this has crossed the line from collecting on us and using cyber to get inside of our systems to putting malware in that can take out our systems,” Waltz said while speaking with Fox News. “So, we have to start thinking about this differently.”
“There is no difference in sending a missle into a dam or a water treatment facility than shutting it down through cyber means.”
“It’s an attack. It’s an act of war. We’ve got to begin thing about it that way.”
Wray also warned that it’s time for the United States to stay alert for these sorts of attacks from China.
Not only that, but he insisted that the nation must be ready to defend itself as well.
“Otherwise, China has shown it will make us pay,” said Wray.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
