U.S. intelligence chief warns Congress of rise in cyberattacks

The
top
U.S.
intelligence
official
warned

Congress
of
an
alarming
rise
in

cyberattacks
at
a
hearing
on
global
threats
Thursday.

Director
of
National
Intelligence

Avril
Haines
said
the
number
of
ransomware
attacks
worldwide
grew
as
much
as
74%
in
2023.

The
comments
from
Haines
come
as
various
companies,
such
as


UnitedHealth
Group,


MGM
Resorts
and


Clorox,
have
been
disrupted
by
cyberattacks
in
the
past
year.

“Although
the
likelihood
of
any
single
attack
having
a
widespread
effect
on
interrupting
critical
services
remains
low,
the
increased
number
of
attacks
and
the
actors’
willingness
to
access
and
manipulate
these
control
systems
increases
the
collective
odds
that
at
least
one
could
have
a
more
significant
impact,”
Haines
told
members
of
the
Senate
Armed
Services
Committee.

Haines
said
U.S.
entities
were
the
most
heavily
targeted
in
2023
with
attacks
in
sectors
such
as
healthcare
doubling
from
the
prior
year.

The
intelligence
chief
also
said
they
have
seen
a
large
increase
in
attacks
on
control
systems
for
critical
infrastructure
but
added
that
there
are
several
ways
for
entities
to
prevent
being
targeted.

In
2021,
a
ransomware
attack

forced
the
shutdown
of
the
largest
fuel
pipeline
in
the
U.S.
The
closure
caused
major
disruptions
to
gas
delivery
and
led
to
long
lines
at
pumps
on
the
East
Coast.

“So
many
of
those
attacks
are
basically
possible
as
a
consequence
of
just
not
engaging
in
good
cybersecurity
practices,
not
updating
passwords,
not,
you
know,
doing
the
kind
of
work
that
needs
to
be
done
patching
vulnerabilities,”
Haines
said.

Sen.
Angus
King,
I-Maine,
pushed
Haines
to
do
more
to
prevent
state-sponsored
attacks
from
U.S.
adversaries.
The
U.S.
has
in
recent
years
accused

China
and

Russia
of
enabling
cyberattacks
on
American
soil.

“They’ve
got
to
understand
that
we
hold
their
systems
at
risk.
…
That’s
got
to
be
part
of
our
strategy.
It
can’t
just
be
patching
and
cyber
hygiene,”
King
said.

Thursday’s
warning
came
a
day
after
UnitedHealth
Group
CEO
Andrew
Witty
told
Congress
in
a

separate
hearing
that
the
company
paid
a
$22
million
ransom
to
hackers
that
breached
its
subsidiary
Change
Healthcare.
In
2023,
cyberattacks
also
temporarily
shut
down

MGM’s
hotel
booking
system
and
disrupted
production
at

Clorox.