China Is Biggest Threat to US Cybersecurity: Report

A member of the hacking group Red Hacker Alliance uses a website that monitors global cyberattacks on his computer at their office in Dongguan, China's southern Guangdong Province, on Aug. 4, 2020. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images

China’s communist regime poses the biggest threat to the United States in the cybersecurity arena, according to a newly published summary of a classified report released by the Department of Defense (DOD) on Sept. 12.

The “2023 DOD Cyber Strategy” report (pdf) serves as the baseline document for how the Pentagon is operationalizing the priorities of the “2022 National Security Strategy,” the “2022 National Defense Strategy,” and the “2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy,” officials said.

The latest report, which officials submitted to Congress in May, builds upon the “2018 DOD Cyber Strategy” and will “set a new strategic direction” for the Pentagon.

Currently, the United States is being challenged by “malicious cyber actors” seeking to exploit the nation’s technological vulnerabilities and undermine its military’s competitive edge,” the summary begins.

The Pentagon warns that such malicious cyber actors are targeting critical U.S. infrastructure and endangering the lives of Americans.

“Defending against and defeating these cyber threats is a Department of Defense imperative,” the summary continues. “As the Department’s cyber capabilities evolve, so do those of our adversaries. Both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia have embraced malicious cyber activity as a means to counter U.S. conventional military power and degrade the combat capability of the Joint Force.”

“The PRC in particular sees superiority in cyberspace as core to its theories of victory and represents the Department’s pacing challenge in cyberspace. Using cyber means, the PRC has engaged in prolonged campaigns of espionage, theft, and compromise against key defense networks and broader U.S. critical infrastructure, especially the Defense Industrial Base (DIB),” it reads.

Communist China, according to the strategy summary, aims to gain dominance in cyberspace to become a “superpower” with “commensurate political, military, and economic influence” and is already attempting to shape the global technology ecosystem by exporting dangerous cyber capabilities to allied nations and working to “accelerate the rise of digital authoritarianism around the globe.”

The Chinese regime routinely conducts malicious cyber activity against the United States as well as its allies and partners, the strategy notes, citing Beijing’s surveillance efforts of U.S. citizens and those considered enemies of the state, among other actions.

“Its efforts abroad are complemented by material strengths at home: a large technology industry and workforce, capable counterintelligence and cybersecurity systems, and an array of proxy organizations empowered to pursue malicious cyber activity,” the report reads. “This malicious cyber activity informs the PRC’s preparations for war.”

The Chinese regime, according to the strategy summary, poses a “broad and pervasive” cyberespionage threat.

Russia Is ‘Acute Threat’ to US

Meanwhile, Russia remains an “acute threat” to the United States in cyberspace, the summary warns, pointing to the country’s “malign influence efforts” aimed at manipulating and undermining confidence in U.S. elections.

“Russia targets U.S. critical infrastructure as well as that of Allies and partners. It continues to refine its espionage, influence, and attack capabilities. In Russia’s war on Ukraine, Russian military and intelligence units have employed a range of cyber capabilities to support kinetic operations and defend Russian actions through a global propaganda campaign,” DOD officials wrote.

Russia has also used cyberattacks to disrupt Ukrainian military logistics amid Moscow’s ongoing invasion, sabotage civilian infrastructure, and “erode political will,” the Pentagon summary states.

According to the Cyber Strategy summary, the DOD is taking multiple steps to address the growing cybersecurity threat from China and Russia, including through persistent campaigning, bolstering domestic cyber resilience, and contingency planning.

The 12-story building that internet security firm Mandiant identified as the home of a Chinese military-led hacking group in Shanghai on Feb. 19, 2013. Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

China Could Launch ‘Destructive’ Cyberattacks

“The Department will campaign in and through cyberspace to reinforce deterrence objectives while achieving informational and military advantages,” the strategy states. “Our adversaries will be made to doubt the efficacy of their military capabilities as well as the belief that they can conduct unattributed coercive actions against the United States.”

However, the report also warned that both China and Russia would likely use “destructive” cyberattacks against the United States in the event of a conflict or in a moment of crisis to “hinder military mobilization, sow chaos, and divert attention and resources” and that resilience against malicious cyber activity is of key importance.

This will involve significant collaboration with foreign governments, partners, industry leaders, and more to ensure the United States has the right cyber capabilities, cybersecurity, and cyber resilience to “help deter conflict and to fight and win if deterrence fails,”  according to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb.

The newly published strategy summary follows a rise in Chinese malware attacks focused on key U.S. government officials, utility companies, and military installations.

In July, Microsoft and U.S. government cybersecurity experts revealed that a Chinese hacking group breached email systems tied to 25 organizations, including multiple U.S. government agencies.

A month earlier, cybersecurity firm Mandiant said suspected state-backed Chinese hackers used a security hole to breach the networks of hundreds of public and private organizations globally, of which nearly a third were government agencies.