Following Trump Taps, China Claims Seabed Sentinels Are Spying
Beijing is accusing unidentified foreign groups of employing seabed equipment and covert maritime buoys to eavesdrop on its naval activities, just days after Chinese state-sponsored hackers targeted the presidential campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in a post on WeChat, the country's largest social media platform, that it has found gadgets used for "reconnaissance and monitoring of our country's waters" as well as "intelligence collection and technical theft activities."
Beijing is accusing unidentified foreign groups of employing seabed equipment and covert maritime buoys to eavesdrop on its naval activities, just days after Chinese state-sponsored hackers targeted the presidential campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in a post on WeChat, the country's largest social media platform, that it has found gadgets used for "reconnaissance and monitoring of our country's waters" as well as "intelligence collection and technical theft activities."
It continued by accusing foreign "secret guards" of serving as "lighthouses" to direct foreign submarines and lurking as roving "spies." Given the serious and intricate circumstances of the clandestine conflict in the deep-sea security domain and the actual danger posed by foreign espionage intelligence services, the national security agencies will ... firmly defend our sovereignty," the MSS reportedly said.
Ryan McConechy, chief technology officer of Barrier Networks, says, "It's very unlikely that we will ever know for sure whether these claims are true, but when it comes to the culprits, suspicion will land on the West." "The most important takeaway from this is that all enemies now prefer to play on the internet. It is safer for troops to physically separate themselves from objectives, and nation-states and criminals may operate much more covertly and frequently gain deeper access to networks and secrets than would be possible with physical access." At-sea ships do make for attractive espionage targets, according to William Wright, CEO of Closed Door Security.
"Few people fully understand the importance of the maritime industry today, but vessels are like floating computers, and they often contain highly sensitive information," he says. "Whether the information relates to China's rapidly growing navy or information on trading, it could prove to be very valuable to another nation-state and China is concerned."
For Tat, tit? Reports of Chinese campaign hacks are followed by news.
Beijing's assertions follow last weekend's Washington Post and Reuters reports that an unidentified advanced persistent threat (APT) breached Verizon Communications' cellular network and captured text messages and phone calls from Trump and Harris campaign staffers. Furthermore, it has been revealed that the eavesdroppers targeted Trump's phone calls in addition to those of his running mate JD Vance — though how successful these latter attempts were is unknown.
The FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) acknowledged they were looking into "unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People's Republic of China" in the wake of the reports. They also acknowledged they were observing "specific malicious activity targeting the sector," but they did not identify the candidates or provide names of the victims. In the meantime, Verizon informed Reuters that it was "aware of a sophisticated attempt to target US telecoms and gather intelligence."
US-China Tensions: It's Time to Strengthen Cyber Defense for Critical Infrastructure.
The action is consistent with earlier assaults by the now-famous Chinese state-sponsored APT Volt Typhoon, which initially surfaced in March 2023 after breaching Guam's telecommunications networks. Since then, it has continuously targeted vital US infrastructure, with the apparent goal of espionage and, potentially, the ability down the line to disrupt communications in the event of military conflict in the South China Sea and across the Pacific.
Similarly, last month, US ISPs were targeted by Salt Typhoon, another Chinese APT. According to academics at the time, the concentration on high-value communications service provider networks in the US probably reflects a similar dual set of objectives: information theft and creating a platform for disruptive assaults. "The recent campaign targeting is alarming, but it's also pretty unsurprising," says Casey Ellis, Bugcrowd's founder and adviser. "Given the US election season, and the access that Salt Typhoon had, I'd be surprised if they didn't target the elected officials and candidates for the presidential election."
Barrier Networks' McConechy thinks that all industries should take a cue from such efforts, adding that the naval espionage may be a response to the Volt Typhoon's attacks. "Whether it's spyware implanted into routers, snooping hot air balloons, or spying submersibles, nation-states are getting increasingly creative when it comes to eavesdropping on other countries, so critical industries must be prepared for these assaults," he says. These kinds of cyber-physical espionage operations have become commonplace in the digital world. The majority of nations will deny that they carry them out, but they will; they simply don't want to inform their target or make the public aware of it."
He continues, "Every system needs to be routinely checked for malware, and the areas near vital infrastructure need to be constantly watched for human or robotic intrusions. It must be a top priority to strengthen defenses both digitally and physically.
