Utilities are a top target of Chinese state-sponsored hackers as the White House removes the leaders of key U.S. military and intelligence agencies.
The administration’s cyber leadership remains in flux following the firing last Thursday of Gen. Timothy Haugh, who led both the National Security Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command, and the dismissal of NSA Deputy Director Wendy Noble.
“We’re under attack, and the president just irresponsibly removed our most important general from the field,” said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of both the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees. “This is an outrageous decision.”
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security has issued warnings about the China-based hacking group Volt Typhoon. Hacking campaigns by foreign powers, particularly China, are a threat to every corner of the grid, analysts say. That includes small-scale distributed energy resources, or DERs — solar panels, batteries, electric vehicle chargers, microgrids and “smart” appliances.