Chairmen Green, Garbarino Statement on Compromise of U.S. Critical Infrastructure by Chinese State-Sponsored Hackers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) and Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) released the following statement on Chinese state-sponsored hackers, code-named Volt Typhoon, compromising U.S. critical infrastructure for surveillance purposes as detailed in a Joint Cybersecurity Advisory by the National Security Agency (NSA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and international partner agencies:

“We are extremely concerned by the news of Chinese state-sponsored malicious activity against U.S. critical infrastructure networks, and the activity in Guam is especially concerning considering the heightened risk to the U.S. military. Just this year, the intelligence community warned about the grave threat posed to America’s critical infrastructure by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its annual threat assessment. It is clearer than ever that our adversaries in Beijing will stop at nothing to conduct surveillance and infiltrate our networks in their quest to bring America to its knees, and this malicious activity is one more stark example.

 

“Our committee is charged with securing the homeland, and we must be nimble to address the increasingly complex threats we face within the cyber domain. It is extremely concerning to see adversaries using built-in network administration tools within domestic infrastructure to carry out these attacks. Critical infrastructure owners and operators across the U.S. should implement the mitigation recommendations listed in the advisory as soon as possible to prevent cascading impacts across these critical sectors that support our economy and way of life.

 

“As Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, we will request a briefing to better understand the scope of this activity and the resources needed to defend against any renewed threat. Congress must do everything it can to empower and equip CISA to support critical infrastructure owners and operators to defend their networks. The time for decisive action is now.”

Background:

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated in their 2023 Annual Threat Assessment, “China probably currently represents the broadest, most active, and persistent cyber espionage threat to U.S. Government and private-sector networks,” and, “China almost certainly is capable of launching cyberattacks that could disrupt critical infrastructure services within the United States.”

This Chinese state-sponsored cyber activity by Volt Typhoon is that warning fulfilled.