China holds cyber dagger at US military's throat, congressional report says
China's cyber warfare capabilities would pose a substantial threat to U.S. military forces in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, according to a report by a U.S. congressional advisory panel.
The report, produced by Northrop Grumman for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said China's People's Liberation Army has placed considerable emphasis on the concept of an "information confrontation."
"Chinese capabilities in computer network operations have advanced sufficiently to pose genuine risk to U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict," the report said.
In the event of a confrontation over Taiwan, which Bejing considers part of its territory and is keenly interesting in acquiring, the Chinese military would target U.S. systems with "electronic countermeasures weapons and network attack and exploitation tools, likely in advance of actual combat to delay U.S. entry or degrade capabilities in a conflict," the report added.