GOP Sen. Marco Rubio warned on social media that the AT&T outage affecting tens of thousands of Americans pales in comparison to what a potential China cyberattack would look like.
“I don’t know the cause of the AT&T outage,” the Florida Republican posted on X on Thursday. “But I do know it will be 100 times worse when #China launches a cyber attack on America on the eve of a #Taiwan invasion.”
“And it won’t be just cell service they hit, it will be your power, your water and your bank.”
Rubio’s warning came as tens of thousands of AT&T customers reported outages on Thursday morning for their home phone, internet and mobile phone services, according to Downdetector.
CHINESE HACKERS HAD ACCESS TO US INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ‘AT LEAST 5 YEARS’ BEFORE DISCOVERY
Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida and ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The outages started popping up just before 3:30 a.m. ET, according to a graph shown on the website that tracks outages.
Most users, 54%, say they are having issues with mobile phone service. More than a third of customers reporting being affected say they have no signal at all, and 8% of users say their mobile internet is down.
US ALARMED AS CHINA HACKS CRITICAL SYSTEMS: WHAT YOU CAN DO
A person holding a cell phone showing their apps (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)
“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning,” AT&T told FOX Business in a statement. “We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.”
More than 74,000 AT&T users reported outages to Downdetector as of 9:30 a.m. ET.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping discussing the country’s economic and social development at a political gathering in Beijing, China. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
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Earlier this month, FBI director Christopher Wray warned that China’s cyberattacks against the U.S. and its allies are reaching a “fever pitch.”
“You might find your companies harassed and hacked, targeted by a web of corporate CCP proxies,” Wray told the leaders gathered in Germany. “You might also find PRC [People’s Republic of China] hackers lurking in your power stations, your phone companies and other infrastructure, poised to take them down when they decide you stepped too far out of line, and that hurting your civilian population suits the CCP.”
“China-sponsored hackers pre-positioned for potential cyberattacks against U.S. oil and natural gas companies way back in 2011, but these days, it’s reached something closer to a fever pitch,” he continued. “What we’re seeing now is China’s increasing build-out of offensive weapons within our critical infrastructure, poised to attack whenever Beijing decides the time is right.”
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report