A top FBI official told U.S. secretaries of state that Chinese hackers are a "growing threat," adding that "we could see more significant Chinese cyber activity against your states in the coming year."
The FBI's suspicions about Chinese cyber-espionage coincide with larger tensions with Beijing following a suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. military on Feb. 4.
Cynthia Kaiser, deputy assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, spoke at a National Association of Secretaries of State conference in Washington, DC, about "a sea of things we're concerned" about.
Chinese hackers searched American political parties' IT systems in the weeks leading up to the 2022 midterm elections, forcing the FBI to brief both parties.
It was unclear whether the activity had resulted in any compromises, which could have been the type of regular espionage that state actors frequently conduct ahead of elections.
In a statement to CNN, the Chinese Embassy in Washington refuted Kaiser's assertions.
"We do not encourage, support or connive at cyber attacks," the Chinese Embassy said in its statement.
Kaiser issued the warning about Chinese hacking in remarks to election officials that also addressed potential risks to U.S. state and local networks, including election infrastructure, from Russia, Iran, and cybercriminals.
The possibility of Russia targeting state and municipal computer networks is a "significant concern" for U.S. officials, according to Kaiser.
"We don't have any intelligence that Russia is looking to target state and local or election systems more directly than before," she added. "But we're certainly aware of ... the possibility and have a very low threshold for sharing that information."
According to U.S. officials, there were some attempts at foreign involvement in the 2022 midterm elections, including online influence operations, but nothing that prevented people from voting or changing their ballots.
Domestic upheaval in Iran and Russia's war in Ukraine may have prevented Tehran and Moscow from making a greater attempt to influence or meddle in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, according to a top U.S. military cyber official in December.
The FBI claims that Beijing has a larger hacking program than all other countries combined. Those charges are consistently denied by China.
Separately, the U.S. Secret Service accused Chinese government-linked hackers in December of stealing at least $20 million in U.S. government coronavirus relief funds by robbing unemployment insurance funds and SBA loan money.
According to Kaiser, the FBI believes the operation was carried out for the "financial benefit" of the Chinese hackers.
