FBI: This is how China uses AI in attack chains

RSAC The biggest threat to US critical infrastructure, according to FBI Deputy Assistant Director Cynthia Kaiser, can be summed up in one word: "China." In an interview with The Register during RSA Conference, she said Chinese government-backed crews are testing out AI in every stage of the attack chain. This isn't to say that they're succeeding, but it does make them "more efficient, or might make them a little faster," Kaiser added. The ongoing threat from Beijing-backed digital intruders burrowing into America's critical facilities likely isn't a huge shock to anyone who can name at least two of the Typhoons that have come to light between last year's RSAC and this year's infosec event. By now, most people are aware of the sophistication and stealth with which Beijing's snoops move around critical government, telecommunications, energy, and water networks, sometimes for years before being detected. Volt Typhoon, for example, infected hundreds of outdated routers to build a botnet and break into US critical infrastructure facilities, all the while readying destructive cyberattacks against those targets. And another Chinese espionage crew, Salt Typhoon, compromised at least nine US telecommunications companies and government networks last year, before attempting to exploit more than a thousand internet-facing Cisco devices as recently as January. These and other agents working on behalf of the Chinese government break into American networks through "unsophisticated means, or...