Delta passengers try to find their luggage in the aftermath of canceled and delayed flights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on July 22, 2024 local time in Atlanta, Georgia. Delta Airlines canceled over 700 flights on the day due to the CrowdStrike software update, accounting for more than half the total flight cancelations in the US. Photo: VCG

China's state security authority on Tuesday said that a global IT outage caused by CrowdStrike exposed that the US, a self-claimed network guardian is actually a hacker empire, as it failed to take on the responsibility of maintaining global cyber security, but instead used its technological advantage to infringe upon the sovereignty and interests of other countries.

Last month, a flawed software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike crippled computers-running Microsoft Windows at organizations, causing major IT outages, taking out banks, airlines and businesses globally.

US federal airspace officials later announced a nationwide ground stop of air traffic due to the outages. Airlines and airports across Germany, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Australia, Japan, India, and Singapore also reported problems with check-in and ticketing systems, resulting in flight delays.

China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) wrote in a post on WeChat on Tuesday that CrowdStrike causing IT outage is not first case that the US has caused a serious global accident due to a security software update error. For example, in May 2007, the US antivirus software manufacturer Symantec updated the virus database, causing the Windows XP operating system to experience blue screen and restart issues.

The US, as a leading cyber power, possesses advanced network technology capabilities. However, instead of taking on the responsibility of maintaining global network security, it uses its technological advantage to infringe upon the sovereignty and interests of other countries. It also acts with impunity in cyberspace, carrying out infiltration, attacks, and sabotage activities at will, and is constantly exposed for various scandals of monitoring other countries, the MSS said.

In June 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that the US National Security Agency was conducting large-scale global surveillance and information monitoring on numerous countries.

Data revealed that from May 2023 to January 2024, US government-backed hacking organizations had conducted over 45 million cyberattacks — all authorized by Section 702 — against Chinese government entities, academies, scientific research institutes, enterprises and critical infrastructures, according to findings of a Chinese investigation.

In the face of numerous criticisms and concerns from the international community, the US has turned a deaf ear, even turning the tables and repeatedly politicizing and weaponizing cybersecurity issues, smearing other countries without factual basis, erecting a "digital iron curtain," creating a "cyberattack island chain," seeking technological monopoly and cyber hegemony, using its own advantages to attack, steal secrets, infiltrate and sabotage other countries, and undermining the efforts of the international community to promote internet governance.

In stark contrast to the global IT outage caused by CrowdStrike, public services in China were not significantly affected by the Windows system failure. This is largely due to China's active integration of independent technological innovation, with domestically developed operating systems demonstrating high levels of stability and reliability during this event, ensuring the normal operation of public services, the MSS said.

Global Times