ASIO boss sounds alarm on ‘devastating, disruptive’ Chinese hacking threat

The nation’s spy boss has sounded the alarm on the threat of sophisticated Chinese government hackers launching attacks on Australian critical infrastructure assets such as airports and energy networks.

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said that authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China are increasingly willing to target critical infrastructure assets to cause economic damage, undermine rivals’ military capabilities and sow social discord.

ASIO boss Mike Burgess says Australia faces a serious risk of sabotage.Credit: Edwina Pickles

“I have previously said we’re getting closer to the threshold for high-impact sabotage,” Burgess told an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) forum in Melbourne on Wednesday.

“Well, I regret to inform you – we’re there now.”

In a clear reference to China, Burgess said: “ASIO is aware of one nation state – no prizes for guessing which one – conducting multiple attempts to scan and penetrate critical infrastructure in Australia and other Five Eyes countries, targeting water, transport, telecommunications, and energy networks.

“The reconnaissance is highly sophisticated, using top-notch tradecraft to find your networks, test for vulnerabilities, knock on digital doors and check the digital locks.”

“And when they have penetrated your networks, they actively and aggressively map your systems, and seek to maintain persistent undetected access that enables them to conduct sabotage at a time and moment of their choosing.”

Burgess said that Chinese hacking groups Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon had probed telecommunications networks in Australia, as well as the United States.

Referring to the Volt Typhoon group, which was exposed last year for targeting the US military base in Guam, Burgess said: “The hackers compromised American critical infrastructure networks to pre-position for potential sabotage.

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“The penetrations gave China the ability to turn off telecommunications and other critical infrastructure.

“And yes, we have seen Chinese hackers probing our critical infrastructure as well.”

He continued: “I do not think we – and I mean all of us – truly appreciate how disruptive, how devastating, this could be.”

Burgess said that cyber espionage attacks “are more than foreseeable, they are inevitable, literally happening every day”.

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