Chinese government hackers are busily targeting water treatment plants, the electrical grid, transportation systems and other critical infrastructure inside the United States, FBI Director Chris Wray will tell House lawmakers on Wednesday in a fresh warning from Washington about Beijing's global ambitions.
"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," Wray will say.
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 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 Chinese government has lashed out at the committee, demanding that its members "discard their ideological bias and zero-sum Cold War mentality."
Persons:
Chris Wray, Wray, Mandiant, they're, Mike Gallagher of
Organizations:
Chinese Communist Party, Microsoft, U.S, Republican Rep
Locations:
United States, Washington, China, Asia, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin