Admiral Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency (NSA), warned that the U.S. is vulnerable to a cyber attack by Chinese hackers that could disable the country's industrial facilities, according to Fox News.
Rogers, who is also the head of the U.S. Cyber Command, made the revelation before the House Intelligence Committee after discovering that hackers supported by China and other countries have been carrying out online reconnaissance operations on the U.S.'s networks.
According to the NSA chief, these operations are being conducted using different types of malware in preparation for a massive cyber attack that could disable the country's industrial facilities, CNN reported.
"We see them attempting to steal information on how our systems are configured, the very schematics of most of our control systems, down to engineering level of detail so they can look at where are the vulnerabilities, how are they constructed," Rogers said.
"We're seeing multiple nation-states invest in those kinds of capabilities," he added.
If the hackers proceed with the attack, Rogers said it could cripple various control systems for the power grid, water treatment facilities and chemical plants.
"It enables you to shut down very segmented, very tailored parts of our infrastructure that forestall the ability to provide that service to us as citizens," he said.
Rogers' revelation comes almost a month after the White House reported that its computer network was hacked.
According to a White House official, the security breach was detected in the network of the Executive Office of the President (EOP), the Washington Post has learned.
Although those behind the attack were not identified, the official speculated that the breach may have been performed by hackers backed by governments of other countries.
"Certainly, a variety of actors find our networks to be attractive targets and seek access to sensitive information," the official said. "We are still assessing the activity of concern."
Investigators noted that the EOP's systems and computers were not damaged during the security breach.
