Part 9/13:
Hawk offers a sobering assessment of America's cyber readiness. Despite possessing formidable capabilities, the scale and sophistication of Chinese hacking operations continually outpace current defenses. China exploits vulnerabilities such as unpatched software and outdated equipment—especially firewalls—gaining access covertly, often without installing malicious software but instead stealing credentials and masquerading as legitimate users.
In Littleton, China’s intrusion was detected before operational control was achieved, but the incident exposed how easily small vulnerabilities can be exploited. Hawk highlights that our knowledge of the full extent of Chinese infiltration remains inadequate, with millions of daily scans and attempts ongoing.