China Is Strapping ‘Digital Bombs’ to Civilian Infrastructure—Is the US Prepared?

Earlier this 12 months, insurance coverage executives gathered in a Instances Sq. convention room to play out a state of affairs: a Chinese cyberattack knocks out 5,000 US water utilities without delay. In the event you suppose that’s a far-fetched state of affairs, suppose once more. WIRED’s Andy Greenberg received uncommon entry to the closed-door war game and walked away with some disturbing conclusions. This week, Brian Barrett sits down to speak with Andy about Volt Storm, the Chinese language state-sponsored hacking group that’s spent the previous three years pre-positioning itself inside American infrastructure.

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You may comply with Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett and Andy Greenberg on Bluesky at @agreenberg. Write to us at [email protected].

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Transcript

Observe: This is an automatic transcript, which can comprise errors.

Brian Barrett: This is WIRED’s Uncanny Valley. I am Brian Barrett, govt editor. We’re on a brief break from our standard roundtable for the remainder of August. Everyone wants a while off typically. However we ready two particular conversations for you. This week, we’re diving into one thing alarming that hasn’t occurred but, however might. Earlier this 12 months, about 30 insurance coverage executives stepped right into a convention room excessive above Instances Sq. in Manhattan to simulate what would occur if a bunch of hackers from China attacked the US water provide. Particularly, the thought was to simulate a Chinese language cyberattack that may knock out 5,000 water utilities in the US abruptly and to do it underneath a countdown clock. WIRED senior correspondent Andy Greenberg received a uncommon invite to this closed door warfare sport, name it Dungeons & Dragons for a nationwide safety nightmare. It was designed by a former cybersecurity strategist to check what would occur if and when hackers linked to an notorious Chinese language operation referred to as Volt Typhoon lastly determine to comply with by on groundwork that they have been laying for 3 years.

Archival audio: This group that is often called Volt Storm, this is a state-sponsored Chinese language hacking group.

Archival audio: China has secretly stepped up its digital warfare, deploying what is being referred to as the Volt Storm malware all through the US ecosystem.

Brian Barrett: The consequence might embody burst water mains, evacuated hospitals, insulin shortages. Andy’s right here to inform us extra about what he noticed and heard, and why the scariest half would possibly not fairly be the hack itself, however what it revealed about who’s really in cost when the water stops. Andy, thanks a lot for being right here.

Andy Greenberg: Glad to do it, Brian.

Brian Barrett: Earlier than we get any deeper into the sport itself, might you inform us what Volt Storm is and the way nervous folks must be basically about this group?

Andy Greenberg: Nicely, Volt Storm is a hacker group that I believe represents a few of the worst nightmares of the cybersecurity group and the US authorities, those that have to plan for catastrophic nationwide safety eventualities. This is a Chinese language state-sponsored hacker group that does not, like most Chinese language state hackers, focus on espionage, however quite has been, it seems, for the final three years, planting malware inside US essential infrastructure, prepositioning, as folks put it, kind of laying the groundwork for the skill to disrupt these methods, to flip off the energy, to trigger blackouts, to disrupt telecommunications, and as I delved into on this story, probably to have an effect on the water provide. When Volt Storm first got here to gentle in 2023, it has been three years now, the headlines mentioned that they have been concentrating on electrical grids and telecommunication networks in the continental US and in Guam particularly. It appeared like they have been in all probability concentrating on US army amenities and the surrounding infrastructure. We have been form of attempting to determine their motives for this, and the concept that I believe all of us have been working underneath is that maybe China is laying the groundwork, getting ready for an invasion of Taiwan maybe, and so they need to have the option to disrupt these US army amenities to delay a US response to an invasion of Taiwan. However then, it started to turn into clear that they have been really breaking into US electrical and water utilities and different civilian essential infrastructure, not simply army, however US civilian infrastructure throughout the complete US, together with, it appears, cities as small as Littleton, Massachusetts. I spoke, in actual fact, to the chief information safety officer of the water and electrical utility in Littleton who simply had no thought why Chinese hackers could be concentrating on his city of 10,000 folks. However what that implies is that China is attempting to acquire the skill not simply to disrupt the US army, however to really trigger widespread societal chaos in the US as one other maybe diversionary distraction tactic perhaps in the midst of this disaster after they invade Taiwan. This is all only a concept, however the items are there. The actual fact is that China actually is breaking into US civilian essential infrastructure. And I do not need to sound overdramatic right here, however laying what Rob Joyce, the former NSA director of cybersecurity, describes as digital bombs strapped to our infrastructure.