China's Volt Typhoon cyberattack on US Guam military base

Washington: China’s cyberattacks shook US military base on the island of Guam in the Indo-Pacific region. China’s Volt Typhoon hackers used very complicated malware to destroy crucial systems at the Guam base. The intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes countries and Microsoft disclosed information about these Chinese cyberattacks. The US State Department warned that China may directly target US infrastructure with cyberattacks in the coming times. Meanwhile, military analysts fear that China will blackout the US through cyberattacks before attacking Taiwan in the near future.

Volt Typhoon, a group of hackers affiliated with China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) and military, launched a cyberattack on the US island of Guam. This involved a complete collapse of communication systems, production areas and transportation systems related to the US military base on the island of Guam. For this, Volt Typhoon hackers infiltrated the network in Guam and changed the commands of the related systems. Microsoft and Five Eyes, and the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, published information about this malware.

The cyberattack temporarily disrupted the system at the military base in Guam. The US has not clarified when exactly this cyberattack took place. But the US State Department has warned that China may directly target US infrastructure and very sensitive facilities and projects in the future. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller expressed concern that this would include fuel and gas pipelines and rail networks. Miller claimed that China could launch such massive cyberattacks.

US military analysts claim that China has prepared a battlefield for cyber conflict through these cyberattacks. But China strongly criticised these allegations of the US and Five Eyes. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China alleged that the Chinese system was not targeting Western countries in any way but that the US and its partner countries were conducting a propaganda campaign against China. The Five Eyes report has been completely unprofessional and lacks evidence, said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Ning has seriously accused, ‘The United States is the empire of hacking.’

Guam has been home to a very important US military and air base in the Indo-Pacific region. If a war erupts due to China or North Korea in this area, the US can use the island of Guam to aid its Asian allies. The United States has deployed nuclear warheads and bomber planes equipped with stealth systems on this island. Thus, by launching a cyber attack on Guam, China showed that the US military base was on its target. Also, military analysts drew attention to the fact that China can blackout in the US through cyberattacks before attacking Taiwan in the times to come.