U.S. President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that creates new rules to bolster security at American ports, while also committing $20 billion to shift away from the use of Chinese-made cranes that officials are at risk of being seized remotely and shut down.
The rules follow a warning from FBI Director Christopher Wray last month that Chinese hackers had burrowed into key American infrastructure and were waiting to “wreak havoc” if ordered by Beijing, potentially to try to break public support for the U.S. defense of Taiwan.
Biden signed the executive order on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, officials told reporters the decision was made due to fears that hackers could cause economic and social chaos by seizing and disabling the advanced cranes used at ports around the United States.
“America’s prosperity is directly linked to maritime trade,” the White House said in a statement, noting that ports were a conduit for $5.4 trillion worth of economic activity a year, employed some 31 million Americans and received 95% of all cargo imports.
But Rear Adm. Jay Vann, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Cyber Command, told reporters that more than 80% of the “ship-to-shore” high-tech cranes used at American ports were made in China and used Chinese software, leaving them “vulnerable to exploitation.”
“By design these cranes may be controlled, serviced and programmed from remote locations,” Vann said, adding that about 200 of such cranes were used in the United States, with about half of them having been inspected by authorities so far for security vulnerabilities.
The remote shut down of the cranes could “cause cascading impacts to our domestic or global supply chains,” he said, with operators unable to move imports or exports, creating massive shortages of goods.
New rules
Biden’s executive order will force port operators to report to the Department of Homeland Security any cases in which cyber crimes, or even threats of crimes, “endanger” any shipping vessel or port.
The U.S. Coast Guard, meanwhile, will enforce a new directive on “cyber risk management” for ports that use the Chinese-made cranes, which the White House says is aimed at “addressing several vulnerabilities that have been identified” by federal agencies.
Coast Guard authorities will be empowered to conduct inspections of port facilities and ships and even stop the movement of vessels deemed security threats. The moves give the Coast Guard “clear authority to take action in the face of cyber threats,” Vann said.
That will work as a stopgap until more of the advanced cranes are produced by an American subsidiary of Japanese crane maker Mitsui E&S. The $20 billion will come from the $1 trillion infrastructure bill Biden signed in 2021 and from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act…
Source: Biden unveils $20 billion for US port security — Radio Free Asia

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