President Joe Biden’s administration is investing $20 billion to build ship cranes in America to prevent Chinese hackers from spying on American ports.
Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday to give the US Coast Guard new powers to issue basic cybersecurity requirements for carriers and ports, amid fears that Chinese hackers will target US infrastructure, including ports, as it prepares for a possible invasion of Taiwan.
A particular area of focus is ship-to-shore cranes, which move cargo containers from ships.
“We felt there was a real strategic risk here,” A saidne Neuberger, USA, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology.
“These cranes, because they essentially move the large-scale containers in and out of the port, if in the event of a criminal attack they were encrypted, or rented or operated by an adversary, they could have a real impact on the movement of goods in our economy and our economy. military goods movements through ports.’
The Biden administration works to protect ship-to-shore cranes from cyber hacking – above cranes at the Port of Baltimore
Senior administration officials noted that 80% of the cranes used in U.S. ports are made in China and use Chinese software, raising concerns that the cranes could be used as a Chinese spying tool.
President Joe Biden to invest $20 billion over five years in American-built ship-to-shore cranes
Of the 200 Chinese-made cranes at U.S. ports, Coast Guard cyber experts have conducted security assessments and found malicious cyber activity in 92, or less than half.
Beijing has said concerns about hacking are “paranoia-driven.”
But Biden is investing heavily in building American-built cranes over the next five years, pulling money from the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to fund them.
The cranes will be built by a US subsidiary of Mitsui, a Japanese company to produce the cranes, which officials said would be the first time in 30 years they would be built domestically.
“By design, these cranes can be controlled, maintained and programmed from remote locations,” Adm. John Vann, who heads the Coast Guard’s cyber command, said at a news conference.
“These characteristics may make PRC-manufactured cranes vulnerable to exploitation,” he said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Late last month, US officials said they had disrupted a state-backed Chinese effort to plant malware that could be used to damage civilian infrastructure.
Vann said these types of potential attacks were a concern as officials pushed for new standards, but they also worry about the possibility of criminal activity.
A Chinese ship with giant cranes approaches Norfolk Naval Station in Hampton, Virginia.
Cranes unload the cargo ship MSC Gayane at the Packer Marine Terminal in Philadelphia
The new requirements are part of the federal government’s focus on modernizing how critical infrastructure such as power grids, ports and pipelines are protected, as they are increasingly managed and monitored online, often remotely. There is no set of national standards that determine how operators should protect themselves against potential online attacks.
Nationally, ports employ approximately 31 million people and contribute $5.4 trillion to the economy.
“America’s system of ports and waterways is responsible for more than $5.4 trillion of our nation’s annual economic activity, and our ports serve as a gateway for more than 90% of all overseas trade,” Vann noted.
Several top US officials, including FBI Director Christopher Wray, have warned of the threats posed by the infiltration of the country’s critical infrastructure by Chinese hackers, who aim to cripple the United States’ power grid, oil pipelines and water systems lay. in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.
And over the past year, Pentagon officials have raised concerns about the ship-to-shore cranes made by China-based manufacturer ZPMC are essentially a Trojan horse.
The taps are well-made and cheap, but contain sophisticated sensors that can record and track containers, leading to concerns that Beijing could collect information about equipment shipped in or out of the country in support of U.S. military operations around the world.
Five ship-to-shore cranes and gangs of dock workers work to load and unload the container ship at the Port of Savannah, Georgia
The massive cranes are generally delivered to U.S. ports fully assembled on ships and operated via Chinese-made software.
In some cases they are supported by Chinese nationals working on a two-year US visa.