FBI Director Christopher Wray warned Congress in a Capitol Hill address on Wednesday that Chinese hackers are planning to “create chaos and harm American communities and citizens in reality”.
Wray and other government officials will appear before the House Select Committee at 11 am for an event entitled “The Chinese Community Party Cyber Threat to American Homeland Security and Homeland Security”.
“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 is expected to tell lawmakers in an excerpt from his remarks.
He’ll say, “China’s hackers are positioning themselves to cause havoc on American infrastructure, to cause real-world damages to American citizens and the community, should China decide to strike”.
Wray is also expected to say that “today, and every day,” Chinese hackers are “attacking our economic security, by stealing innovations, personal data, and corporate data.”
“They don’t just target our economy and our security.” Wray continues his testimony by saying, “They target our liberties and reach within our borders as well as across America to silence, coerce, and threaten our residents.”
Wray stated in an April last year testimony that FBI agents are outnumbered by “at least 50 to one” when they try to combat the cyber-hacking threat China poses. He said that Beijing has stolen more information about U.S. individuals and companies.
At the House Appropriations Committee hearing, he said: “They have an even larger hacking program than any other country and they’ve stolen more personal and corporate data than all other nations – big or small.”
Wray stated that if FBI cyber analysts and agents were to concentrate exclusively on China, the number of FBI personnel involved in cyber security would be 50:1.
