- The U.S. Navy has been “impaired” by Chinese state-backed hackers, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told CNBC on Thursday.
- The infiltration was first reported by Microsoft and the NSA on Wednesday and targeted infrastructure in the US and Guam.
- Microsoft warned that critical communications, maritime and transport infrastructure was at risk.
A US Navy guided missile submarine.
US Navy | AP
The US Navy has been hit by the state-sponsored Chinese hacker attack announced by Microsoft earlier this week, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan on Thursday.
Del Toro said the US Navy was “affected” by the cyberattacks, adding it was “no surprise that China has been behaving this way not just in the last few years, but for decades.”
He declined to give further details about the raid, but indicated that the Navy had been dealing with such cyberattacks for years.
Microsoft, along with top intelligence agencies and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, on Wednesday issued an alert, alerting businesses and public companies that a sophisticated state-backed Chinese hacker group has successfully exploited a vulnerability in a popular cybersecurity suite.
The vulnerability, exploited by a group codenamed “Volt Typhoon,” is impacting critical cyber infrastructures across a range of industries, Microsoft said Wednesday. Microsoft noted that the Chinese hackers had targeted communications and shipping sectors in Guam, where a key US military base is located.
Microsoft noted that the hacking group appears to have focused on surveillance rather than disruption. However, senior intelligence officials and researchers have expressed concern that Guam has been targeted, telling the New York Times that the island territory is vital to repelling a long-feared Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the state-controlled press have dismissed the Microsoft and intelligence agency findings as “disinformation.”
On Thursday, a State Department spokesman said it was vital for the government and the public to remain vigilant. “We will continue to work with our allies and partners to address this critical issue,” spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing.