China’s hackers are preparing to ‘wreak havoc’ and ’cause real world harm’ to Americans: FBI director

(WASHINGTON) — China’s hackers are preparing to “wreak havoc” and “cause real-world harm” to Americans, FBI Director Christopher Wray will warn in Congressional testimony submitted on Wednesday.

Director Wray, along with U.S. Cyber Command Commander General Paul Nakasone, Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly and Harry Coker, the director of the National Cyber Director office, will be testifying in front of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist party.

“There has been far too little public focus on the fact that PRC hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure — our water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems. And the risk that poses to every American requires our attention — now,” Wray says in selected testimony released by the FBI ahead of the hearing.

He says they are “attacking our economic security, engaging in wholesale theft of our innovation, and our personal and corporate data.”

Wray has been consistently sounding the alarm on how much of a threat China is to the United States, as other members of the administration, including President Joe Biden, seek to calm tensions with China.

The Justice Department has made several cases against Chinese hackers in the past with the most recent case in 2021.

Meanwhile, the FBI director will say that China deserves Americans’ attention now.

“They target our freedoms, reaching inside our borders, across America, to silence, coerce, and threaten our citizens and residents,” he says.

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