House Homeland Security Republicans request information regarding cybersecurity threat by Chinese-built cranes at U.S. ports

In a letter dispatched to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week, Republican chairs linked to the House Committee on Homeland Security pressed for answers on potential cybersecurity threats posed by Chinese-manufactured cranes used at U.S. ports.

“We are particularly concerned about technology employed by Chinese-manufactured cranes operating in U.S. ports, which significantly increases the cybersecurity risk to business operations systems and terminal industrial control systems,” the lawmakers wrote. “To address these concerns, the Committee on Homeland Security is conducting oversight of vulnerabilities in our nation’s maritime ports and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) resilience strategies to address them.”

At a federal level, security and cybersecurity at U.S. ports is led by DHS. This helps guide $5.4 trillion worth of commercial and military goods through them annually, and guarantee smooth operations for both commercial and military supply chains.

However, recent reports have alleged that approximately 80 percent of cranes used at U.S. ports are manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. (ZPMC), a Chinese company. While traditionally this would simply mean the item moving other items on the docks came from overseas, in modern times it raises questions of their operational technology system, which could allow their creator to remotely monitor their movements and items they transport in real time.

While this has not been demonstrated, the lawmakers, including Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, MD (R-TN), attempted to run a direct line to the latest annual threat assessment from the U.S. intelligence community, which warned more generally of China’s threat in terms of cyber espionage, labeling it the most active threat to U.S. government and private sector networks. With that, the Republicans warned that exploitation of these cranes could force a shutdown of port operations and disrupt supply chains, or more simply, provide the Chinese Communist Party with valuable information on American critical infrastructure.

“According to a former top U.S. counterintelligence official, ‘[c]ranes can be the new Huawei,’” the lawmakers wrote. “Any potential port shut down could create catastrophic economic and security consequences. These vulnerabilities could provide opportunities to near-peer nation-state adversaries, such as China, to cripple our economy from behind a computer screen.”

As a result, Green, together with Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security Chairman Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Chairman Dan Bishop (R-NC), requested that Mayorkas brief Committee staff on maritime port security, including vulnerabilities ZPMC cranes could pose.