דיווח מיוחד: החדירה הסינית הנרחבת לתשתיות חיוניות בארה"ב

Today we're premiering a special episode about a serious threat facing America. A potential cyber 9-11 that could bring our nation to a standstill. The stakes couldn't be higher. It's about safeguarding the very fabric of our security, stability and way of life. Imagine a scenario where our electricity flickers off, our taps run dry and the flow of goods at our ports grinds to a halt. How long could you last? These are the precise maneuvers the Chinese Communist Party has been tirelessly perfecting, ensuring they possess the means to disrupt our lives at will. It's weapons of choice, not bombs or bullets, but lines of code. Through cyber attacks that made alarming strides in their efforts to gain control. Today we are telling the story of a type of cyber war that threatens to plunge our nation into chaos. For years U.S. officials have sounded the alarm on China's cyber espionage and attacks, but now the threat has escalated to a perilous new level. These state-backed hackers are no longer interested in just stealing personal or commercial data. They are now trying to control or sabotage the systems we rely on every day. From energy grids to water plants, America's most vital infrastructure is under attack. Is the Chinese Communist Party or CCP positioning for a cyber strike that could thrust us into turmoil? What the Chinese Communist Party is also doing right now is positioning themselves to change the lives of every American in ways that we wouldn't expect every single day to cut us off from our water or electricity whenever they want, to take control of our phones or our personal data, to take out the GPS system that we rely on, that helps our kids get home. This January, the House Select Committee on the CCP held a critical hearing. It coincided with a startling revelation from the FBI. Malware had been removed from hundreds of routers in homes and offices planted by a Chinese hacking group. They're not focused just on political and military targets. We can see from where they position themselves across civilian infrastructure that low blows aren't just a possibility in the event of a conflict, low blows against civilians are part of China's plan. The primary culprit, a notorious Chinese hacking unit known as Vault Typhoon. This group has already infiltrated the control systems of U.S. electric companies and telecommunications providers. Its tentacles have reached infrastructure in Guam, a crucial U.S. military hub in the Pacific. Intelligence officials report that in some cases, these Chinese hackers maintain access to these networks for at least five years, lying in wait, ready to strike. This is the cyberspace equivalent of placing bombs on American bridges, water treatment facilities and power plants. There is no economic benefit for these actions. There's no pure intelligence gathering rationale. The sole purpose is to be ready to destroy American infrastructure, which would inevitably result in chaos, confusion and potentially mass casualties. To understand the destructive and dangerous potential of these cyber attacks, we need to look back to 2017. That year, a Saudi Arabian petrochemical plant was attacked by hackers. Investigations revealed that the malware was intentionally designed to sabotage the safety systems and trigger an explosion. The culprit was never identified, and this case alarmed the world. It demonstrated that cyber attacks are not just tools for espionage or disruption, but have the capability to cause real-world casualties. How did this happen? How did the Chinese Communist Party infiltrate our infrastructure so deeply before we noticed? But first and more importantly, can we defend ourselves? For now, the answer is probably not. Those of us who see classified intelligence have seen China building these capabilities for years, but most of our critical infrastructure, our electricity and water and rail systems, they're run by state and local governments or the private sector. They may not understand these threats. Consider water systems as an example. In a recent warning, federal officials revealed a disturbing trend. Cyber attacks against water utilities are on the rise. The attacks are mainly by hackers from China, Russia and Iran. But by far the most worrying is China, and the U.S. is not prepared. Last year, inspections revealed that 70 percent of water utilities lack sufficient defenses against such intrusions. Across the U.S., there are approximately 150,000 water systems in operation, and overwhelming 93 percent are very small entities, serving populations of fewer than 3,000 people. These small systems often have minimal funding, making it difficult to hire cyber staff or provide basic cybersecurity training. But as we know, many of these public utilities and even smaller critical infrastructure entities are target-rich but cyber-poor. They might have two people who are focused on security, and they're the same two people who are doing administration or the finances for the company. Thomas Fanning is the former CEO of The Southern Company, one of the largest producers of electricity in the U.S. In a recent event, he spoke of how his company was constantly under cyber attack. What we see now in this digital world that we all live in, that the battle is not on somebody else's beach, it's right here. We get attacked three million times a day, and I know a whole lot of other companies do as well. And so the battle is not protected by an ocean on the right and left and friendly neighbors on the north and the south. It is here. I mean, there is a real sense of urgency. You can live without the lights on for a few days if you must, but try living without water, you know, for more than a day, more than two days. It's not good. Compounding the threat, our intelligence agencies say they are also shorthanded, lacking sufficient cyber staff to detect and counter these sophisticated attacks. PRC has a bigger hacking program than that of every major nation combined. In fact, if you took every single one of the FBI's cyber agents and intelligence analysts and focused them exclusively on the China threat, China's hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to one. Adding to that challenge, the Chinese hackers act fast. The FBI director said that in one case, it took the hackers a mere 15 minutes to steal data related to the control and monitoring systems of a U.S. pipeline company. Beyond breaking into control systems, the Chinese regime is employing another tactic to take over our infrastructure, one that might be even harder to counter. Their Trojan horse made in China products. For years, U.S. national security officials have named and shamed a wide range of equipment manufactured in China. These equipment can be used to spy on us and potentially one day be remotely controlled by China to wreak havoc on our soil. One major concern lies in the cranes at U.S. ports, massive machines that unload container goods from ships onto trucks and trains for nationwide delivery. When I was the mayor of Miami-Dade County, we operate one of the biggest ports, you know, in the United States. And lo and behold, when I look at our cranes, they all had Chinese writing on it. Chinese manufactured ship to shore cranes dominate nearly 80 percent of all cranes at ports across the United States. That's over 200 cranes manufactured by a single Chinese state-owned company, ZPMC. But the reach of ZPMC goes far beyond U.S. shores. The company boasts control of around 70 percent of the global market for cranes and has sold its equipment in more than 100 countries. Take the Port of Los Angeles, for example. Thirty-nine out of the 82 cranes are made in China. What's worse, I thought that we were OK with software, maybe software developed in Western countries was OK operating these cranes. But we also find out that a lot, in a lot of instances, the software is shipped to China, stays there for over a year, and then it's installed in China. And we don't know what happens to it in that time. And so operating that software, knowing that that software is either reporting back to China or that somehow it can be turned off at any time. Why are these Chinese-made cranes a major concern? Because they give the CCP leverage to potentially shut down shipments in and out of our ports. This threat could result in enormous economic losses and disrupt supply chains, considering that ports inject a staggering $5.4 trillion into the American economy. Ninety percent of the overseas trade come in via these ports. The Chinese are highly likely to exploit this leverage, particularly as they've been issuing threats regarding Taiwan. So China is ready to attack by 2027 Taiwan. When they stop all those cranes that we are using in the United States ports, we are in big trouble. We cannot really bring anything to Taiwan since that's our island. A U.S. Coast Guard official warned of a dire scenario. Because those cranes can be operated remotely, they could be vulnerable to Chinese exploitation. The Biden administration has taken some action, ordering the U.S. Coast Guard to inspect all of these cranes. However, they are not planning to get rid of them. Instead, they are investing billions of dollars to encourage the use of U.S.-manufactured technology in the future. Another equipment raising alarms from security experts are power transformers, the machines that help electricity travel long distances and get to our homes safely. In the past decade, China has sold the United States over 200 large power transformers, making up a substantial 10 percent of the nation's high-voltage transformer network. These crucial machines power vital cities like New York and Las Vegas. But beneath the surface lies a chilling threat. Security experts warn that these Chinese-made transformers could harbor hidden hardware components or malicious code planted during manufacturing. This covert technology could grant China remote access and control over these transformers from thousands of miles away. Imagine the devastation if China chose to exploit this power. They could plunge major cities into darkness with just a string of code. So why don't we just replace all of these Chinese power transformers? It's not that easy. For one, these giant machines are custom-made and hard to replace. Furthermore, these transformers are made up of countless smaller parts sourced from around the globe. Ensuring each component is free from potential backdoors or malicious code is a Herculean task. Even if the final product isn't directly from China, there's still a risk of Chinese-made components lurking within, waiting to be exploited. In 2020, the Trump administration took a hardline stance, banning the purchase of bulk power system electric equipment from China. However, when Biden took office, his team opted to hit the pause button on that ban. They are now pledging a more, quote, holistic and strategic approach to tackling this complex issue. The reality is this cyber war has already begun. Chinese hacker groups have been firing shots for years now. The real question is, will the U.S. be poised and ready when the fight inevitably escalates? I want to send a message to anybody who's paying attention here, whether it's the CCP or anyone else, who would intend to put malware into our critical infrastructure. First, we will attribute it back to you if it's activated. Secondly, that could be an act of war. And third, we will respond decisively. The stakes couldn't be higher. It's not just about protecting data. It's about safeguarding the very fabric of our security, stability and way of life. A potential Cyber 9-11 that could bring this nation to a standstill. The choice before us is clear. Will we be prepared when the battle arrives at our doorstep?