According to a source, authorities are looking into reports of malware in networks that manage power and water supply in the United States that may have originated in China and is designed to disrupt global military activities.
Officials in the Biden administration, according to a Saturday New York Times report, think the malicious computer code could be lurking in the infrastructure that runs US military outposts throughout the world.
The virus, deployed by Chinese hackers, is described as “a ticking time bomb” by an anonymous official in the newspaper, and may impede US military deployments by disrupting water, communications, and power on US military locations.
Due to the interconnected nature of the systems that provide infrastructure to US military locations, it is possible that the hackers’ influence might extend far beyond the military activities itself.
Microsoft announced in May on the island of Guam that it had discovered suspicious computer code in its telecommunications systems, marking the beginning of the hacking incident. The United States maintains a sizable aviation base in Guam.
The Times reports that once the virus was discovered, senior officials from the National Security Council, the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, and federal spy agencies met in the White House’s Situation Room to discuss how to best address the issue.
“The Biden administration is working relentlessly to defend the United States from any disruptions to our critical infrastructure, including by coordinating interagency efforts to protect water systems, pipelines, rail and aviation systems, among others,” said Adam Hodge, the acting spokesman for the National Security Council, in a statement to the newspaper.
