Although US officials claim to have shut down a hacking operation supported by China that was aimed at civilian infrastructure, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning about potential dangers in the event that the two countries engage in conflict.
Volt Typhoon, a state-sponsored hacking gang in China, was purportedly directed by the Chinese government to do harm to public sector infrastructure, including transportation networks, oil and natural gas pipelines, water treatment plants, and the electrical grid.
In a statement to the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party on Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a warning, stating that Beijing is putting itself in a position to interfere with Americans’ daily lives in the event that the US and China engage in combat.
He claimed that the public has paid far too little attention to a cyberthreat that impacts “every American.”
“If and when China believes the moment is right to strike, its hackers are positioned on American infrastructure to create chaos and inflict actual harm on American persons and communities,” Wray continued.
Malware
According to the FBI, Chinese hackers had taken over a botnet comprising hundreds of small business and home routers in the US that belonged to individuals and corporations. Their goal was to conceal their identity while spreading malware.
Since the security fixes and software updates from their manufacturer were no longer available, the routers were easy targets. It was just one tactic the hackers employed to hide their activities.
The hackers had also hidden themselves as regular traffic and gained access to targets through various channels, such as cloud and internet providers.
