WASHINGTON.-The US government accused a group of hackers allegedly linked to the Government of China of launching a massive cyber attack against various strategic objectives, among them the water and energy network of the North American country, although Beijing has been quick to deny any involvement in this case.
The group, identified as Volt Typhoonwould have tried to introduce malware programs into “hundreds” of home or small business routers that, due to their age, no longer supported new updates that theoretically should protect them from this type of actions, according to the FBI and the United States Department of Justice. Joined.
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned Congress that hackers chinos They are trying to penetrate American networks with a view to preparing the ground, in case “China decides that the time has come to attack“.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement that “the United States will continue to dismantle malign cyber operations, including those sponsored by foreign governments, that harm the security of the American people.”
The North American authorities have already mobilized to notify the owners of the routers that may have been affected.
Underscoring the threat, the Justice Department and FBI announced before the hearing that they had taken down a botnet of hundreds of civilian-owned home and small office routers. and companies that were kidnapped by Chinese state hackers to cover their tracks and hide their origin while planting malware.
During a hearing before the House Select Committee on the Communist Party of China, Wray said “very little public attention has been given” to a cyber threat that affects “all Americans.”
“Chinese hackers are preparing American infrastructure to unleash chaos and cause real harm to American citizens and communities when or if China decides it is time to strike,” Wray said.
Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the US Department of Homeland Security, expressed a similar opinion at the hearing.
“This is a world in which a major crisis on the other side of the planet could put American lives at risk on our soil by damaging oil pipelines, cutting off telecommunications, contaminating water facilities, paralyzing our transportation. , all to ensure that they can instigate panic, unleash chaos in society and affect our ability to respond,” he said.
The comments coincide with assessments by outside cybersecurity firms such as Microsoft, which said in May that Chinese state-backed hackers had attacked essential U.S. infrastructure and could be creating the technical conditions for the potential disruption of vital U.S. communications. and Asia in future crises.
That operation, attributed to a hacking group known as Volt Typhoon, was disrupted when FBI and Justice Department agents obtained search and seizure warrants in federal court in Texas. Hackers infiltrated their targets through various means, such as cloud and internet service providers, hiding in normal traffic.
A Justice Department official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the government, said authorities were determined to shut down the Volt Typhoon operation as soon as possible because hackers were using the botnet as a an important step in hiding in US internet traffic while penetrating vital infrastructure networks, ready to maliciously take advantage of that access whenever they choose.
Chinese government hackers are relentlessly attacking U.S. water treatment plants, the power grid, transportation systems and other essential infrastructure, FBI Director Chris Wray told U.S. representatives on Wednesday, in a new warning from Washington about Beijing’s global ambitions.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has stated that Washington has launched its accusations without evidence and has pointed out that the country from which the most cyber attacks arise is not China, but the United States. In this sense, the ministerial spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, has urged him to stop using these types of issues to try to discredit other international actors, according to the official press of the Asian giant.
Source: With information from AP/EUROPA PRESS
