Critical Infrastructure Security , DEF CON , Events

Is China's Threat to US Critical Infrastructure Overblown?

Concerns over potential Chinese cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure have grown, but the actual threat may be overstated, said Scythe founder and CEO Bryson Bort.

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In the event of war between China and Taiwan, Bort expects the Chinese would target weak points in America's kinetic military force rather than engaging in large-scale cyberattacks against random U.S. infrastructure. Nonetheless, defending U.S. critical infrastructure is tough due to an uneven distribution of resources and a lack of resilience in equipment not originally designed to counter cyberattacks (see: DHS Unveils Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Guidance).

"The U.S. government has been putting out declassified information to asset owners suggesting that the Chinese are ramping up those efforts," Bort said. "But it's more likely that there are other weak points in U.S. military force projection that the Chinese are going to try to exploit versus, 'I want to take out a random power company in Indiana.'"

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at DEF CON 2024, Bort also discussed:

• The historical context of Chinese cyber operations against critical infrastructure;
• Challenges in defending aging infrastructure against advanced cyberattacks;
• The role of asset visibility and defensible architecture in improving resilience.

Bort is a faculty member at IANS Research, a cybersecurity research and advisory firm; founder and CEO of Scythe, a startup building a next-generation threat emulation platform; and co-founder of the ICS Village, a nonprofit advancing awareness of industrial control system security. Bort served in the U.S. Army as a battle captain and brigade engineering officer in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.