U.S. FBI chief James Comey says China is at the top of the list of countries waging cyber warfare against American industry, with damages measured in the billions of dollars per year.
Comey told CBS television’s 60 Minutes Sunday that China’s efforts are extremely aggressive and widespread in stealing secrets benefitting its own business and industry.
He said the annual losses to U.S. companies are “impossible to count,” but would be in the billions of dollars.
Online theft of patents and trade secrets from U.S. companies often results in large job and revenue losses to industry.
Comey said the number of daily attacks from hackers and cyber-terrorists are too many to count, and that Americans underestimate the danger of cybercrime.
The U.S. indicted five Chinese military experts for cybertheft in May, outraging China, which denies computer hacking and accuses the United States of industrial spying.