Recent Taiwan simulation highlights US cyberdefense gaps against China, experts warn

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies ran a war game in Taiwan modeling how China could use cyberattacks and economic pressure — including localized cellular outages, information manipulation, damaged undersea cables, and disabled electrical substations — to undermine public confidence and extract concessions without a kinetic invasion. Organizers warned U.S. planning focuses on military conflict but underprepares for coordinated cyber and civilian-impact operations; exercises referenced real campaigns like Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon as informing the scenario and stressed long recovery times, interdependencies across services, and the need for federal tabletop rehearsals.