The FBI has been working to better address mounting Chinese cyber operations amid increasing tensions between China and Taiwan and the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
Cyber and intelligence operations are being simultaneously employed and continuously ramped up by China, said FBI Cyber Division Deputy Assistant Director Cynthia Kaiser at the RSA 2023 Conference.
With China expected to strengthen its military to prevent any U.S. intervention in Taiwan by 2027, the FBI is expected to conduct further cyber operations similar to those performed in the Russia-Ukraine war, including sharing reconnaissance activities and indicators of compromise, as well as other intelligence data.
"China's the long-term threat, but 2027 is not long-term. With that date in mind, there's the potential for a lot of different activities that could occur and some of those are cyber," said Kaiser.
Kaiser's statements come as FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted that the agency's Cyber personnel is significantly outnumbered by Chinese hackers.