House Homeland Security Republicans have introduced a new bill to combat China's growing cyber meddling, signaling that “enough is enough.”
This legislation, led by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and supported by other notable players such as Chairman Mark E. Green (R-TN), aims to combat Beijing's cyber spies, beginning with the notorious ‘Volt Typhoon' hacking group.
The bill, announced on September 24, 2024, proposes forming an interagency task force led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI to remove these hackers from critical U.S. networks that they have quietly infiltrated. And it's about time.
So, why the sudden action? The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not just messing around with ransomware attacks.
Their state-sponsored actors, including ‘Volt Typhoon' and the newly discovered ‘Flax Typhoon,' have been infiltrating U.S. infrastructure systems, from energy to transportation, for far too long, with no one noticing.
These silent infiltrators do more than just steal your data; they also lay the groundwork for major disruptions if Beijing decides to escalate tensions in the Indo-Pacific.
Basically, China has digital backdoors everywhere, and this bill is here to shut them down.
The task force isn't a one-time deal either. The legislation requires it to submit a classified report to Congress once a year for the next five years, detailing everything it discovers about China's shady cyber activities.
This isn't your typical IT solution; it's a coordinated, all-hands-on-deck defense strategy designed to protect the systems that Americans rely on every day.
Lee made it clear that the United States has been too slow in responding to the threat, and we cannot afford to continue playing defense.
Chairman Green backed her up, pointing out that ‘Volt Typhoon' had gone undetected for far too long. Congress is now prepared to respond.
Let’s hope Beijing’s hackers get the message before it's too late.