Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray warns of damaging and "more brazen" threats from the Chinese government, accusing Beijing of stealing American innovation and other sensitive information through massive cyberattacks.
In his speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, a few days before the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, Wray announced that the United States still considers China as its biggest threat to long-term economic security.
He disclosed that the FBI investigations indicate Bejing's numerous attempts to hack vital US data, per the Associated Press.
"When we tally up what we see in our investigations, over 2,000 of which are focused on the Chinese government trying to steal our information or technology, there's just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China," Wray said.
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An Ongoing Threat to US Security
Cyber threat from China is not new and Wray has been discussing them since he assumed the director position in the bureau in 2017. "But I want to focus on it here tonight because it's reached a new level - more brazen, more damaging, than ever before, and it's vital - vital - that all of us focus on that threat together," the official emphasized.
Every 12 hours or so, the FBI is launching new investigations to fight Chinese intelligence operations, with Chinese government hackers stealing more personal and business data than all other countries combined, Wray mentioned.
Wray also explained that Beijing's "economic espionage" activities do not only give Chinese companies the advantage from "illegally" obtained technology but also impact the economic performance of the US.
"That harm - company failures, job losses - has been building for a decade to the crush we feel today. It's harm felt across the country, by workers in a whole range of industries," Wray said.
The Chinese government has denied the US government's accusations several times. One spokesman from its Embassy in Washington remarked last July that the allegations are "groundless" and "malicious smears."
As an example, Wray underscored in his message the case of a Chinese intelligence officer convicted last November of economic sabotage for targeting an advanced engine developed by GE.
According to the Justice Department, Yanjun Xu, who worked for China's Ministry of State Security, was found guilty by a federal jury in Ohio of conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, CNBC News reported.
Is The Beijing Olympics at Risk of Cyberattacks?
Cybersecurity experts last week expressed concerns about the required Beijing Winter Olympics app for attendees and athletes after discovering security weaknesses that could put users at risk of data breaches.
Cyber security firm Internet 2.0 has also warned of potential security risks from the technology of some Beijing Olympics sponsors that exhibit the "sophisticated and broad surveillance culture" in China.
Per BBC report, among the products mentioned in the report was a VPN by Qi-Anxin that could capture a significant amount of user data, which China's national security laws allow.
Though experts say that large-scale online attacks or state-sponsored hackers are unlikely to target the Games, hacktivists and cybercriminals seem to have plenty of reasons to do so. Per Politico, security firm GardaWorld claims that the growing tensions between China and Western nation could encourage hacktivists to exploit the Beijing Winter Olympics to "compromise ideological and political opponents through cyber-attacks."
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