China Breached Dozens of Pipeline Companies in Past Decade, U.S. Says

The disclosure about the breadth of state-sponsored cyberattacks was part of a warning to pipeline owners to increase the security of their systems to stave off future intrusions.

The Biden administration disclosed previously classified details on Tuesday about the breadth of state-sponsored cyberattacks on American oil and gas pipelines over the past decade, as part of a warning to pipeline owners to increase the security of their systems to stave off future attacks. From 2011 to 2013, Chinese-backed hackers targeted, and in many cases breached, nearly two dozen companies that own such pipelines, the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security revealed in an alert on Tuesday. For the first time, the agencies said they judged that the “intrusions were likely intended to gain strategic access” to the industrial control networks that run the pipelines “for future operations rather than for intellectual property theft.” In other words, the hackers were preparing to take control of the pipelines, rather than just stealing the technology that allowed them to function. Of 23 operators of natural gas pipelines that were subjected to a form of email fraud known as spear phishing, the agencies said that 13 were successfully compromised, while three were “near misses.” The extent of intrusions into seven operators was unknown because of an absence of data.