The US State Department warned on Thursday that China is capable of launching cyber-attacks against critical national infrastructure, such as oil and gas pipelines and rail systems.
Espionage Allegation
In a multi-nation alert issued on Wednesday, the US said that China’s cyber-espionage campaign aims at military and government targets in the US.
Officials said they were still in the process of understanding the extent of the threat.
“We’ve had at least one location, that we didn’t know about since the hunt guide was released, come forward with data and information,” Rob Joyce, the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) cybersecurity director, told Reuters.
Prior to this, the agency had disclosed technical details to help critical service providers detect any unusual activity.
Separately, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) executive assistant director, Eric Goldstein, told the media house that the agency has been working to understand “the breadth of potential intrusions and associated impacts,” so it could “provide assistance where needed, and more effectively understand the tactics undertaken by this adversary.”
The US State Department warned that China was capable of launching cyber attacks against critical infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines and rail systems, after researchers discovered a Chinese hacking group had been spying on such networks https://t.co/gSuQk09OmU pic.twitter.com/C63fWiS1hl
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 26, 2023
Chinese Spying
The allegation comes after researchers discovered that a Chinese hacking group had been spying on such networks.
However, Beijing has rejected the allegation, calling the US’ warning a “collective disinformation campaign” meant to “serve its geopolitical agenda.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called it an “extremely unprofessional report — a patchwork with a broken chain of evidence.”
“It’s widely known that the Five Eyes (an intelligence alliance between the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) is the world’s biggest intelligence association and the NSA the world’s biggest hacking group. It is ironic that the Five Eyes jointly released a report filled with disinformation,” she said.
She slammed the US, calling it a “champion of hacking” and called on it to explain last September’s NSA attacks on China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University.