The United States is vulnerable through hacking by China of big and small computer systems. The Chinese are pre-positioning, setting the board, so to speak, to knock out critical systems in case a conflict erupts. The Washington Post reports that insecure home systems are being used as launch points into systems that are part of critical infrastructure. The technology intrusion is also used for surveillance and intelligence gathering, to be well prepared when it is time to activate these electronic sleeper agents.
The hackers are looking for a way to get in and stay in without being detected, said Joe McReynolds, a China security studies fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank focused on security issues. “You’re trying to build tunnels into your enemies’ infrastructure that you can later use to attack. Until then you lie in wait, carry out reconnaissance, figure out if you can move into industrial control systems or more critical companies or targets upstream. And one day, if you get the order from on high, you switch from reconnaissance to attack.”
Nakashima and Menn. “China’s cyber army is invading critical U.S. services”. The Washington Post. December 11, 2023.
