TLP Clear: PRC State-Sponsored Cyber Activity: Actions For Critical Infrastructure Leaders

SUMMARY

This fact sheet provides an overview for executive leaders on the urgent risk posed by People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actors known as “Volt Typhoon.” CISA—along with the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other U.S. government and international partners¹—released a major advisory on Feb. 7, 2024, in which the U.S. authoring agencies warned cybersecurity defenders that Volt Typhoon has been pre-positioning themselves on U.S. critical infrastructure organizations’ networks to enable disruption or destruction of critical services in the event of increased geopolitical tensions and/or military conflict with the United States and its allies. This is a critical business risk for every organization in the United States and allied countries.²

The advisory provides detailed information related to the groups’ activity and describes how the group has successfully compromised U.S. organizations, especially in the Communications, Energy, Transportation Systems, and Water and Wastewater Systems Sectors^.3 The authoring organizations urge critical infrastructure owners and operators to review the advisory for defensive actions against this threat and its potential impacts to national security.

CISA and partners4 are releasing this fact sheet to provide leaders of critical infrastructure entities with guidance to help prioritize the protection of critical infrastructure and functions. The authoring agencies urge leaders to recognize cyber risk as a core business risk. This recognition is both necessary for good governance and fundamental to national security.

View the detailed report below. 
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¹ U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Australian Signals Directorate’s (ASD’s) Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), Canadian Communications Security Establishment’s (CSE’s) Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK), and New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NZ)
² CCCS assesses that Canada would likely be affected as well, due to cross-border integration. ASD’s ACSC and NCSC-NZ assess Australian and New Zealand critical infrastructure, respectively, could be vulnerable to similar activity from PRC state-sponsored actors.
³ See Critical Infrastructure Sectors | CISA for descriptions of critical infrastructure sectors.