WASHINGTON — The United States is working to identify and eradicate malicious computer code that Washington says was placed by China at the heart of critical infrastructure for the US military, The New York Times reported this Saturday.
This important computer breach, known since May, is deeper and more worrying than initially estimated, according to specialists and US agents interviewed by the newspaper.
“It’s a ticking time bomb,” a parliamentary source told The New York Times.
The newspaper reports that concern in the security circles of the Joe Biden government centers on Beijing’s ability to activate this software in the event of an armed conflict, for example around Taiwan.
Although the malicious code has not been detected in classified computer systems, once activated it could disrupt the electricity, drinking water and communications networks that supply US military bases, potentially making troop movements more difficult.
In late May, US cybersecurity agencies and their allies accused a Chinese-sponsored “cyber actor” of having infiltrated US “critical infrastructure,” allegations firmly denied by Beijing.
Microsoft, for its part, had indicated that the group behind the attack, Volt Typhoon, had been active since mid-2021 and that it had targeted, among other things, critical infrastructure on the island of Guam, which is home to a major US military base in the Pacific Ocean.
After more than a year of work, the US authorities still do not know the full extent of the breach, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Western countries are increasingly concerned about Beijing’s maneuvering in cyberspace.
In mid-June, a Google subsidiary reported that a group of cyber attackers, visibly linked to the State Chinese, was responsible for a vast campaign of espionage computer attack directed against government agencies of various countries of strategic interest to Beijing.
The choice of targets was directly related to “high-priority issues for China, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan,” a Google cybersecurity specialist said.
FOUNTAIN: With information from AFP
