FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in front of the House Select Committee on Wednesday that Chinese hackers are preparing to attack US infrastructure and American citizens.

He warned during a hearing titled “The Chinese Community Party Cyber Threat to the American Homeland and National Security,” that the Chinese Communist Party and its lackeys are readying to attack our infrastructure and Americans personally. The FBI chief is telling Americans we have to address the threat immediately.

“There has been far too little public focus on the fact that People’s Republic of China hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure – our water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems. And the risk that poses to every American requires our attention – now,” Wray asserted during his testimony.

“China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike,” he continued.

(Video Credit: Forbes Breaking News)

Wray went on to hammer home that Chinese hackers are hitting us every single day, “actively attacking our economic security, engaging in wholesale theft of our innovation, and our personal and corporate data.”

“And they don’t just hit our security and economy. They target our freedoms, reaching inside our borders, across America, to silence, coerce, and threaten our citizens and residents,” he commented.

This isn’t the first time that Wray has warned about China either. Last April, he ominously remarked that FBI agents were outnumbered by “at least 50 to 1” when it came to addressing the threat of China to our infrastructure through the efforts of hackers. He asserted that China was responsible for stealing more personal and corporate data from the U.S. than any other country according to Fox News.

“They’ve got a bigger hacking program than every other major nation combined and have stolen more of our personal and corporate data than all other nations – big or small combined,” he stated during a House Appropriations Committee hearing.

“We could suffer large scale blackouts in major cities. We could lose access to our cell towers and the internet. We could lose access to clean water and fuel.” — @CongressmanRaja explains the Chinese military’s strategy to target American civilians in the hopes of weakening our… pic.twitter.com/iZYdSdl9tC

— Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) January 31, 2024

“To give you a sense of what we’re up against, if each one of the FBI’s cyber agents and intel analysts focused exclusively on the China threat – on nothing but China – Chinese hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to 1,” Wray testified in front of the committee.

The threat is ongoing, pervasive, and extremely dangerous in a new type of unconventional warfare that could cripple the nation if successful.

“Underscoring the threat, the Justice Department and FBI announced just before the hearing that they had disrupted a botnet of hundreds of U.S.-based small office and home routers hijacked by the Chinese state hackers in the operation to sow the malware,” the Associated Press reported.

“On Wednesday, U.S. officials said the cyber threat they had disrupted involved Chinese hackers, known as Volt Typhoon, who had been using the botnet to stealthily infect U.S. critical infrastructure. They did so beginning in December and after obtaining search-and-seizure orders in a Texas federal court. The officials said the owners of those routers would be contacted by their Internet service providers,” the news site said.

“PRC cyber actors are pre-positioning in U.S. critical infrastructure and it is NOT ACCEPTABLE.” — @NSAGov and @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA General Paul Nakasone. pic.twitter.com/BjfUY4Ae6w

— Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) January 31, 2024

Cybersecurity firms are also warning that a major hack is coming.

“The comments align with assessments from outside cybersecurity firms including Microsoft, which said in May that state-backed Chinese hackers have been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises,” the Associated Press added.

“The following month, Mandiant said that suspected state-backed Chinese hackers had used a security hole in a popular email security appliance to break into the networks of hundreds of public and private sector organizations globally,” the media outlet noted.

“CCP hackers even attempted to access the Texas electric grid.

The purpose was to install malware that once activated would disrupt and damage the infrastructure… to potentially harm us in a time of conflict.” — Ranking Member @CongressmanRaja pic.twitter.com/t8UpkDNWRR

— Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) January 31, 2024

“Our intelligence agencies have discovered that the CCP has hacked into American infrastructure for the sole purpose of disabling & destroying…

This is the cyberspace equivalent of placing bombs on American bridges, water facilities, and power plants.” — Chairman @RepGallagher pic.twitter.com/MQDD49vs5f

— Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) January 31, 2024

Meanwhile, Beijing is accusing the U.S. of hacking them as well.

“Beijing has slammed the U.S. for its ‘almost-daily’ and ‘huge amounts’ of cyber attacks against Chinese government offices. ‘China is the biggest victim of cyber attacks,’ Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said last year,” the Associate Press wrote indicating how China could lay blame if and when they do launch a crippling cyberattack.

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