FBI Director Wray issues dire warning on China’s cybersecurity threat

FBI Director Christopher Wray this week delivered what might be the starkest warning yet on the threat that China-backed hackers pose to US national and economic security.

In remarks at a Vanderbilt University-hosted summit on modern conflict and emerging threats, Wray described Chinese hackers as outnumbering FBI personnel by at least 50 to 1 and standing poised to “wreak havoc” on US critical infrastructure at a moment’s notice.

Immediate and Imminent Threat

Stakeholders across private industry and government need to treat the threat as immediate and implement plans to fortify networks and respond to attacks now, the nation’s leading law enforcement official said.

“The [People’s Republic of China] has made it clear that it considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage,” Wray said. “Its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic and break America’s will to resist.”

Wray’s comments build on repeated warnings in recent months from US officials — and the FBI itself — about a dangerous and systematic escalation in Chinese targeting of networks and systems belonging to organizations in critical infrastructure sectors. Wray and others have repeatedly described the intrusions as attempts by Chinese hackers to methodically pre-position themselves for attacks designed to disrupt telecommunications, energy, water, technology and other critical infrastructure services when needed.

China’s cyberattackers are “giving the Chinese government the ability to wait for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow,” Wray said. Beijing, he added, is building a capability to deter any US attempts to intervene in the event of a crisis between China and Taiwan.

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