State Governments ‘Weakest Link’ in Protecting America From ‘Enemy’ Cyberattacks

Despite alarm over 'state-federal tech threat disconnect' posed by China, few legislatures responding

A member of the hacking group Red Hacker Alliance uses a website that monitors global cyberattacks on his computer at an office in Dongguan, China's southern Guangdong province on Aug. 4, 2020. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images

United States federal agencies and the Pentagon over the last decade have imposed a matrix of restrictions on purchasing technology from companies owned or influenced by China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but few of the nation’s 50 states have taken similar precautions.

In fact, many state governments apparently aren’t aware—or haven’t publicly acknowledged—how potentially vulnerable their electronic infrastructure is to CCP cyberattacks, espionage, and data theft.