Industrial cyberwarChina and Russia using cyberspies to steal U.S. secrets
A new Congressional report concludes that Chinese and Russian hackers backed by their respective states are stealing U.S. trade and technology secrets to boost their economic development; the report, titled “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace” and written by the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, found that foreign hackers can easily gather large quantities of sensitive data without being detected because so much of it is stored on computers
A new Congressional report concludes that Chinese and Russian hackers backed by their respective states are stealing U.S. trade and technology secrets to boost their economic development.
The report, titled “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace” and written by the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, found that foreign hackers can easily gather large quantities of sensitive data without being detected because so much of it is stored on computers.
Based on data collected from 2009 to 2011, foreign intelligence services, corporations, and individuals have spent millions of dollars to steal U.S. technologies and their efforts have increased in recent years.
“The pace of foreign economic collection and industrial espionage activities against major U.S. corporations and U.S. government agencies is accelerating,” the report said.
A senior U.S. intelligence official speaking anonymously to Reuters said, years ago “spies were taking out information by file folders, today they’re taken out in thumb drives.”
“Our research and development is under attack,” he said.
The report found dozens of countries across the world were targeting the United States, but only singled out China and Russia.
“Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage,” the report said. But despite evidence that attacks originated from China, no specific proof confirmed that the hackers had been sponsored by the Chinese government.
Meanwhile the report said, “Russia’s intelligence services are conducting a range of activities to collect economic information and technology from U.S. targets.”
The report singled out China and Russia because those two countries were considered to be “the foreign intelligence services and the countries that are doing the most harm to … our economic status,” said an anonymous intelligence official.
“It’s part of China and Russia’s … national policy to try to identify and take sensitive technology which they need for their development,” the official said.
The report predicts that China and Russia will continue to effectively steal business secrets from U.S. companies.
“We judge that the governments of China and Russia will remain aggressive and capable collectors of sensitive U.S. economic information and technologies, particularly in cyberspace,” the report said.
