A senior FBI official warned secretaries of state from across the US Thursday that Chinese hackers pose a “growing threat” and said their willingness to target the infrastructure of political parties ahead of the 2022 election demonstrates that “we could see more significant Chinese cyber activity against your states in the coming year.”
Chinese state backed-hackers are part of “a sea of things we’re concerned” about, Cynthia Kaiser, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, said at a National Association of Secretaries of State conference in Washington, DC.
In the weeks before the 2022 midterm elections, Chinese hackers scanned US political parties’ IT systems in possible reconnaissance for follow-on hacking, prompting the FBI to brief both parties, CNN and the Washington Post previously reported.
It was unclear if there were any compromises from the activity, which may have been the sort of routine espionage that state actors often conduct ahead of elections.
The FBI’s concerns about Chinese cyber-espionage come amid broader tensions with Beijing over an alleged Chinese spy balloon that the US military shot down February 4.
Kaiser gave the warning about Chinese hacking in remarks to election officials that covered potential threats from Russia, Iran and cybercriminals to US state and local networks, including election infrastructure.
CNN has requested comment from the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Kaiser’s allegations.
The potential for Russia to target state and local computer systems remains a “significant concern” for US officials, Kaiser said.
“We don’t have any intelligence that Russia is looking to target state and local or election systems more directly than before,” she added. “But we’re certainly aware of … the possibility and have a very low threshold…
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