Australia’s head spy issued a grave warning on Wednesday, saying that hackers working for China’s government are breaking into the country’s phone systems and critical facilities in an attempt to gain access to power plants, water systems, and phone networks. Mike Burgess leads the country’s main spy agency, called ASIO. He told business leaders of the threat. Burgess said these attacks could shut down banks, trains, and even cut off water and electricity to homes. China quickly said the claims are not true and called them lies meant to create problems between the two countries. But Burgess stands by his warning and says the threat is very real right now.
How Much Damage Has Been Done
Burgess spoke at a business meeting in Melbourne. He gave some surprising figures regarding the amount of money Australia loses to spying. Last year, spying attacks cost Australia $8.1 billion. That is a huge amount of money lost because of these hackers and spies. Of that total, approximately $2 billion came from the theft of business secrets and ideas. Companies put a lot into developing new products and technology. Then, hackers take these secrets and give them to other competitors overseas.
The spy chief identified two such groups that have been causing problems. One group is called Salt Typhoon. The other is called Volt Typhoon. These strange names may sound like they are made up, but they are real teams of computer experts who work for the Chinese government and military. Their job is to break into other countries’ computer systems and networks.
The Salt Typhoon has already broken into phone systems in the United States. Now they’re doing the same thing in Australia. They are not simply having a look around. They are mapping how everything works so that they can attack later if they want to.
What Hackers Want
The typhoon, according to Burgess, is even more dangerous. This isn’t a group that just wants to spy and steal data. They want to break things and cause mayhem. They have breached critical American systems that supply water, power, and other staples. They’re setting themselves up in positions where they can sabotage the systems at any time of their choosing.
Burgess explained what would happen if these hackers attacked: Banks would no longer function, and people couldn’t withdraw their cash. Trains and buses would cease running. Water treatment plants could shut down, and homes wouldn’t have clean water. Power plants could go dark, casting entire cities into a blackout. Phone networks would crash, and nobody could call for help.
The head of ASIS made it clear these are not just scary stories. He said foreign governments have special teams right now planning exactly how these attacks would be carried out, studying Australia’s weak points and working out the best ways to cause the most damage.
Other Ways Hackers Could Hurt Australia
Burgess talked about other problems hackers might cause: they could attack an Australian company to help that company’s competitors in China. When a business suddenly can’t operate because of a hack, its rivals in other countries make more money. That gives an unfair advantage to Chinese companies in trade. The hackers could also create chaos at the time of elections.
The Chinese government did not like what Burgess said. A spokesman in Beijing called his speech false and said that it was meant to cause fights between countries. The spokesman said China complained to Australia’s government about the speech. This isn’t the first time China has gotten angry at Burgess for talking publicly about their hacking.
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