DThe American government wants to use a program worth billions to protect ports from cyber attacks and, among other things, replace port cranes from China with cranes from domestic production. Around 80 percent of the cranes that move containers and other goods in America's ports come from China. Many of them come with sophisticated software. The White House sees two risks in this: China and other hostile countries could remotely control the cranes and use them to collect precise data on imports and exports. They could also be a gateway for cyberattacks. Around 80 percent of American imports pass through ports.
How vulnerable they can be was revealed by a cyber attack on Japan's largest port, Nagoya, which stopped work for a day in July last year after a so-called ransomware attack. The American Coast Guard is currently examining around 200 Chinese-made cranes to identify possible threats.
The White House's initiative has an industrial policy component: the government will divert $20 billion from the infrastructure law that has already been passed over the next five years, part of which will benefit the Japanese Mitsui group. Its American subsidiary Pacheco is to use the financial injection to set up domestic production of harbor cranes. It would be the first time in 30 years that port cranes will be built in the United States, the White House said. To minimize the risks associated with the active Chinese cranes, the owners and users of the devices must follow new cybersecurity requirements, which the White House did not specify.
China criticizes the move
China rejected the move, calling the narrative that the cranes posed a risk to national security paranoid. The American government is overextending the concept of national security and thereby hindering everyday trade relations between China and the United States, the Chinese embassy said.
The American military has long seen the cranes as a security risk and is therefore avoiding ports where the cranes from China are in use for sensitive transports, reports the newspaper “The Wall Street Journal”. China can understand where the goods come from, what the destination port is, and where they will be transported from there. This is a security risk with military goods.
There is growing concern in America's security authorities that the Chinese government could use cyberattacks to penetrate critical infrastructure. This is reflected in increased warnings from the Federal Police FBI, among others. In addition to the ports, energy production and distribution are seen as vulnerable.
#government #replace #Chinese #harbor #cranes