China has been on a warpath for American destruction for the last couple decades, dreaming of it as they have grown. But in the last few years, their dream has inched closer to reality than ever. Their military is growing to become the biggest in the world, and their economy has become a legitimate threat. They have continued to grow while America has just stayed in neutral the last few decades, and especially since the Biden Administration took over.
A few weeks ago, UnitedHealthcare was hacked during a ransomware attack. Now, the Biden Administration says several other Chinese hackers have conducted sweeping attacks on various companies, endangering national security. In a surprise move, Biden actually took the time to place sanctions against the group, the first time they have done so against China, while accusing the Communist Party of sponsoring the attack.
But why is it so easy for them? Cyber expert David Malicoat says that our susceptibility comes down to basic vulnerabilities.
"A company or organization has their IT infrastructure, and run their software...but naturally, because it is made by humans, it will have bugs and vulnerabilities in it," he says. "They target those, and a lot of time when they do that, they are successful."
There is one pretty easy way for them to get in, with many of the hackers using 'zero days,' bugs in the code for which there is no patch yet.
It seems crazy to think with the depth of knowledge this country has on technology, that there would be simple holes in our national security systems. But this is what America gets for taking China as a 'paper tiger' for all those years.
"There is some very basic blocking and tackling people are not doing...and we can bolster that over time with investment...but not just throwing money at it...it is a matter of doing the right fundamental things, and not chasing that silver bullet that will solve all our problems at once," he says.
Officials say the group that was sanctioned by Biden was working as a front for Beijing's top spy agency, with hopes to put malware onto the electric grid, water systems, and other critical infrastructure. That is right. This is not just a Fortune 500 company problem. It is a full-blown America problem.
China managed to invest in their systems correctly and invest in how much they want to beat us. Now, it is America's turn to pony up and try to fight back. Because if we do not, then that could be trouble.
"We have to have a lot of coordination...we want to create an industry in cyber security...where we give everyone the resources they need to develop, and battle against this," he says.