FBI Director Christopher Wray has called out a Chinese cyber threat named Volt Typhoon that is targeting US water, power, and telecommunications companies, including23 pipeline operators.
In an address at Vanderbilt University late last week,Wray warned that "Chinese government-linked hackers have burrowed into US critical infrastructure and are waiting for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow."
The goal? To induce panic and potentially deter the US from supporting Taiwan in the event of an attack on the island by China.
How might Volt Typhoon strike? "You might find your companies harassed and hacked, targeted by a web of corporate CCP proxies," Wray told world leadersearlier this year. “You might also find PRC hackers lurking in your power stations, your phone companies, and other infrastructure, poised to take them down ..."
An escalating threat. The FBI director has been warning about China’s cyber capabilities for months in speeches and in testimony before Congress, calling the Chinese Communist Party "the defining threat of our generation.” Chinese hackers, he says, outnumber FBI cyber personnel 50 to 1.
Beijing has denied state involvement in Volt Typhoon, attributing the hacking to criminal ransomware groups. However, Wray cites evidence of the operation using extensive botnets to mask its cyber trail,as well as investigations by Microsoft and Google tying the campaign to China.