Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA) joined with 11 House colleagues in issuing a pressing call to action in response to a recent report revealing the presence of Chinese malware deep within Department of Defense networks, potentially compromising critical base utilities, she said in a recent weekly newsletter to constituents. The discovery has raised alarms about national security vulnerabilities and the safety of both military personnel and civilians relying on these systems, she said.
"Last month, a concerning report revealed that the Department of Defense believes Chinese malware is buried deep within our military networks, specifically those that control base utilities. Leaving ourselves vulnerable to these types of attacks weakens our national security and endangers both the military and civilian populations that rely on this infrastructure," she wrote in her newsletter.
U.S. intelligence officials are pursuing Chinese malware that holds the potential to disrupt American military operations, a recent news report in the New York Times said. This malware is feared to provide China with the capability to obstruct or slow down U.S. deployments and resupply activities, with particular concern surrounding its impact during a possible Chinese maneuver against Taiwan.
An unidentified official told the paper that Chinese hackers have deployed potentially devastating malware, referred to as a "ticking time bomb," capable of severing critical utilities like water, communications, and power on U.S. military bases, thereby impeding military deployments. The hackers' potential impact extends beyond military operations, as the same infrastructure systems servicing U.S. military bases are frequently shared by homes and businesses across the nation. The initial indications of this hacking activity surfaced in May on Guam, a Pacific island housing a significant U.S. air base, where Microsoft detected an enigmatic computer code within its telecommunications systems, the Times story reported.
"These Communist Chinese Party (CCP) malware reports appear to be part of an increasingly aggressive CCP espionage campaign," Kiggans and 11 GOP House colleagues said in a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. "While not inclusive of all CCP efforts, they include unclassified examples such as the spy balloon that crossed sovereign U.S. territory, targeted hacking of U.S. Ambassador to Beijing Nicholas Burns and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s government emails, and malware attacks on communications systems in Guam," their letter said.
The letter to Austin lists questions the group wants answered and ends with, "Please respond to these questions in writing by August 14, 2023, and provide members of the House Armed Services Committee with a full briefing on this situation upon Congress’s return in September."
Alerts Sign-up