TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — American security officials believe that Chinese hackers are laying the cyber groundwork to affect critical US infrastructure to slow its response during any potential PLA invasion of Taiwan.
From 2019 to the present, investigators at the FBI and private firms have discovered intrusions into US ports, power grids, and other infrastructure perpetrated by PLA hackers, per the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ cited US security officials saying that a group dubbed Volt Typhoon carried out the hacks.
The security officials said Volt Typhoon's intrusions are at least partly meant to hamper US military logistics and hinder Washington's reaction to a confrontation with Beijing. They believe this includes sabotaging a US mobilization in response to a potential invasion of Taiwan.
Western security officials told the journal that the US has shared information about the infrastructure incursions with allies.
Top national security officials in multiple Biden administration agencies believe that the targeting of Guam and West Coast infrastructure indicates that hackers are fixated on Taiwan, according to WSJ. They suspect that these actions are meant to impede a US response during any potential Chinese invasion.
Since 2022, George Barnes, the former deputy director of the National Security Agency, has suggested that China may be intentionally allowing the cyberattacks to be discovered to intimidate the US into staying out of a war between Taiwan and China, per WSJ. If a war broke out in the strait, George said that following Taiwan, the US “would be target zero” for Chinese cyberattacks, the paper reported.