Microsoft president Brad Smith on
A Chinese sponsored A hacking campaign targeting critical infrastructure Microsoft President Brad Smith warned that Guam and other locations within the United States are “a real concern.”
Microsoft on Wednesday disclosed the hacking operation, codenamed “Volt Typhoon,” and said it could disrupt communications between the U.S. and Asia during a potential future conflict. This operation has been going on for almost two years.
“What we found was what we think of as network intrusion, code presentation,” Smith said in an interview with “Face the Nation.” It focused specifically on critical infrastructure. represents, and that’s obviously a real concern.”
Microsoft said Wednesday that it did not detect any offensive attacks from the operation, but noted that Chinese intelligence and military hackers typically focus on espionage and information gathering rather than destruction.
Smith declined to provide details about how the operation unfolded, and whether it was Microsoft that tipped off U.S. intelligence agencies about the operation.
“I don’t want to go too deep into it,” he said. “We’ve certainly found a good deal of it ourselves. I don’t think we’re the only ones looking. We share information, as you would expect. I don’t know that we’re the only ones. There are those who have found it too.
“The good news is that we have a broad-based capability, not only as a company, but as an industry and as a country, to detect this type of activity,” he added. said
gave The New York Times reported. US intelligence agencies discovered the malware in February, around the same time the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon. The malware that appeared in telecommunications systems on Guam and elsewhere in the US has reportedly alarmed US officials because Guam would play a key role in the US military response to a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Making the operation public is also important to educate affected areas, and hold perpetrators accountable, Smith said.
“I think we live in a world where, clearly, there needs to be some level of accountability for anyone who engages in this type of risk or risk activity,” Smith said. “And so there is a need for public transparency in that vein as well.”
China has denied these allegations.
Nicole Sanga contributed reporting.