FBI Director Christopher Wray is expected to warn of China’s growing threat of cyberattacks on U.S. power grids and other infrastructure during an appearance Wednesday morning before the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
“Chinese hackers are poised to inflict real-world harm on American citizens and communities if and when China decides it’s time to strike, and they have a foothold in American infrastructure,” Wray told the panel, according to excerpts from the report he prepared. Statement released by the FBI.
Wray is also expected to argue that there has been “very little public attention” that Chinese hackers have targeted critical infrastructure in the US, such as water treatment plans, electric chillers, oil and natural gas pipelines and transportation systems.
“And the resulting risk to every American demands our attention — now,” excerpts from Wray’s prepared statement read.
Wray plans to emphasize that the “cyber attack” by Chinese hackers “goes beyond predetermining future conflict,” saying that hackers are “actively attacking U.S. economic security every day,” engaging in “wholesale theft of our innovations, and personal and corporate information.” .”
“They not only affect our security and economy. “They are targeting our liberties by reaching across our borders, across America, to silence, coerce and threaten our citizens and residents,” Wray’s prepared statement read.
Wray’s Notes a series of serious warnings he leaked information about the Chinese government’s hacking capabilities. one iInterview with NBC News in 2022Wray said he was shocked to learn the extent of China’s efforts to steal U.S. technology after he became FBI director in 2017, and that the FBI launched an average of two counterintelligence investigations a day to counter those threats.
Hackers linked to China last year He hacked the email accounts of the State and Commerce departments 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 campaign lasted about a month.