Pentagon says cyberattacks are part of China’s armory for any conflict with US
- Summary of annual cyber strategy report says that ‘in the event of conflict, the PRC likely intends to launch destructive cyberattacks against the US homeland’
- Report also identifies Beijing as the ‘pacing challenge’ to the US in cyberspace and says it poses ‘a broad and pervasive cyber espionage threat’
China’s cyber activity “informs” its “preparations for war” and it likely intends to launch destructive cyberattacks against the US in the event of conflict, the Pentagon warned in a strategy paper.
The summary of the Defence Department’s 2023 Cyber Strategy, released on Tuesday, said that China is the “pacing challenge” of the US in cyberspace, and that it “routinely” conducts malicious cyber activity against the United States as well as its allies and partners.
China poses “a broad and pervasive cyber espionage threat”, the summary said. The full strategy, the Pentagon’s fourth cyber study, remains classified and was forwarded to Congress in May.
China and the US have traded accusations of conducting cyberattacks against each other for years, with Beijing calling Washington “the champion of hacking”.
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According to the summary, China’s “theories of victory rest on the use of cyber means to degrade the combat capability of the joint force, as well as that of our allies and partners”.
