FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party on Wednesday morning, warning of the growing threat of Chinese cyberattacks against the U.S. power grid and other infrastructure.
“If China decides the time is right for an attack, Chinese hackers are preparing to wreak havoc and cause real-world damage to American citizens and communities,” Wray told the panel, according to excerpts from the report. “It’s located in America’s infrastructure.” Prepared testimony released by the FBI.
In prepared remarks, Wray also said that Chinese hackers targeting critical U.S. infrastructure, including water treatment plants, power grids, oil and gas pipelines, and transportation systems, “have received little public attention. It’s far too little,” he said.
“And the risks it poses to all Americans demand our attention now,” excerpts from the prepared testimony read.
As Wray testified, the Justice Department and FBI announced they had defeated a Chinese hacking operation that infected hundreds of small office and home routers with botnet malware targeting critical infrastructure. .
The Justice Department said hackers known in the private sector as “Bolt Typhoon” used privately owned small routers infected with the “KV Botnet” malware to facilitate further Chinese hacking efforts against victims in the United States and abroad. He said it was hidden.
Wray mentioned the malware in his testimony, emphasizing that it targets critical infrastructure in the United States.
“The Bolt Typhoon malware allowed China to conceal pre-operational reconnaissance and network abuse of critical infrastructure such as the communications, energy, transportation, and water sectors.In other words, the measures China was taking , to find and prepare for the destruction that would otherwise destroy critical civilian infrastructure that keeps us safe and prosperous,” Wray said in his testimony.
The Justice Department said in a statement that most of the routers affected by the hackers were vulnerable because they had reached “end of life” status, meaning they could no longer be supported by manufacturer security patches or other software updates. The court authorized additional steps to be taken to remove the malware from the router and disconnect it from the botnet.
In his remarks, Wray emphasized that the “cyber onslaught” by Chinese hackers “goes far beyond pre-planning for future conflict,” and that hackers are “actively and aggressively attacking U.S. economic security every day.” “They are stealing our innovations and our technology on a massive scale.” Personal and corporate data. ”
“And they don’t just hurt our security and economy. They target our freedoms, reach within our borders and across America, and threaten our people and residents. silencing, coercing and threatening,” the excerpt reads.
Ray’s comments added to a series of stark warnings he has issued about the Chinese government’s hacking capabilities. In a 2022 interview with NBC News, Wray said that when he became FBI director in 2017, he was shocked to learn of the scale of China’s efforts to steal U.S. technology and that the FBI had no plans to counter them. He said he was launching an average of two counterintelligence investigations a day in order to do so. threat.
Last year, China-linked hackers compromised the email accounts of the State Department and the Commerce Department, as well as US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns. The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said at the time that the targeted intelligence-gathering operation lasted about a month.