9-5-2024 (WASHINGTON) Senior US officials engaged in direct confrontation with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing during April. The issue at hand was a far-reaching cyber espionage campaign, codenamed “Volt Typhoon,” through which Chinese hackers have breached dozens of American critical infrastructure organisations, according to Nathaniel Fick, the US ambassador at large for cyberspace and digital policy.
American authorities assert that China’s objective behind this campaign is to leverage the access gained into US organisations in the event of an armed conflict or war – a chilling prospect that underscores the escalating tensions between the two superpowers over the long-standing issue of Taiwan. However, the Chinese government has consistently dismissed such allegations as baseless and unfounded.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on May 7, Ambassador Fick shed light on the gravity of the situation, stating, “We have had direct conversations with the Chinese about it. We raised it directly with the Chinese government at very senior levels and made clear that this kind of behaviour is dangerous, escalatory, and it’s not acceptable.”
Fick revealed that he personally raised the issue alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the latter’s visit to China from April 24 to 26, underscoring the high-level diplomatic efforts to address this pressing matter.
When questioned about China’s response to the confrontation, Fick’s remarks painted a familiar picture of denial. “Same way they have to previous attributions… They have said before that it’s a ploy by various US agencies to get more budget dollars,” he stated, highlighting the Chinese government’s persistent dismissal of such allegations.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on May 8, leaving the diplomatic standoff hanging in the balance.
The alarm bells over this cyber espionage campaign were first sounded a year ago by the US and several of its allies, who warned of the potential for Chinese cyber attacks against critical infrastructure such as oil and gas pipelines, rail systems, and other vital industries.
While the exact number of compromised US organisations remains uncertain, Brandon Wales, the executive director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, acknowledged during a separate media briefing at the conference that “any number we give you is likely an underestimate.”
Wales further emphasised the broad scope of the threat, stating, “Chinese targeting of our critical infrastructure is broad-based. It is against a broad swathe of small and medium-sized companies that are potentially critical in individual supply chains or just capable of causing societal panic in some place around the country.”
