FBI Finds Chinese State Hacker Malware on Hundreds of U.S. Infrastructure-Related Routers

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Wednesday announced they were able to disrupt a massive Chinese cyber-espionage campaign called Volt Typhoon that penetrated critical American infrastructure systems.

Volt Typhoon was detected and made public by Microsoft’s cybersecurity team in May 2023. Microsoft described the perpetrators as state-sponsored hackers from China who were developing “capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises.”

Microsoft’s conclusions were backed by the intelligence agencies of the “Five Eyes” alliance: the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. China denied the allegations and accused the Five Eyes nations of pushing “disinformation.”

Volt Typhoon’s activities were originally thought to be centered on Guam, with the goal of disrupting American network communications across the Pacific in the event of a conflict with China, such as China might cause by invading Taiwan. Further investigation showed the scope of the operation was much greater, with targets including West Coast ports, oil pipelines, and the power grid of Texas.