FBI Director compares China’s hackers to a ‘drunk burglar’
China's theft of intellectual property through cyberspying is costing American economy billions of dollars every year, says James Comey
PUBLISHED : Monday, 06 October, 2014, 11:11am
UPDATED : Monday, 06 October, 2014, 10:03pm
Agencies in Washington
Most Popular
FBI Director James Comey says China tops the list of countries seeking to pilfer secrets from US firms. Photo: AFP
FBI Director James Comey has compared Chinese hackers to a "drunk burglar" who steals with reckless abandon. He said they cost the US economy billions of dollars every year.
Chinese hackers targeted the intellectual property of US companies in China every day, he said in a television interview.
"I liken them a bit to a drunk burglar. They're kicking in the front door, knocking over the vase, while they're walking out with your television set. They're just prolific. Their strategy seems to be: 'we'll just be everywhere all the time. And there's no way they can stop us'," Comey said on CBS' 60 Minutes.
The US Justice Department earlier this year announced a 31-count indictment against Chinese hackers accused of breaking into computer networks at steel companies and the manufacturers of solar and nuclear technology, with the goal of gaining a competitive advantage. China has denied the allegations.
Comey said China topped the list of countries seeking to pilfer secrets from US firms, suggesting that almost every major firm in America had been targeted.
"There are two kinds of big companies in the United States," he said. "There are those who've been hacked by the Chinese and those who don't know they've been hacked by the Chinese."
Comey cited the historic case of five members of the People's Liberation Army indicted with hacking US companies for trade secrets, a move which outraged China when announced in May.
The case is the first-ever federal prosecution of state actors over cyber-espionage.
The PLA unit is accused of hacking into US computers to benefit Chinese state-owned companies, leading to job losses in the United States in steel, solar and other industries.
"They are extremely aggressive and widespread in their efforts to break into American systems to steal information that would benefit their industry," Comey said of China's hackers.
Comey said China was seeking to obtain "information that's useful to them so they don't have to invent"
"They can copy or steal to learn about how a company might approach negotiations with a Chinese company, all manner of things," he said.
Asked for a dollar estimate of the intellectual property stolen by China, Comey said it was incalculable. "Impossible to count," he said. Billions."
Last week, big bank JPMorgan Chase revealed that a hack it had reported in August had compromised data on 76 million household customers and seven million businesses, including their names, email addresses and telephone numbers.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, speaking on ABC television, declined to address the JPMorgan Chase case specifically. But he stressed: "We have made enormous efforts to bring attention to this and resources to this. The president [Barack Obama] has taken action through an executive order.
"Look, we have a lot of concerns about the sources of attacks because there are many different sources. "
FBI Director James Comey has compared Chinese hackers to a "drunk burglar" who steals with reckless abandon. He said they cost the US economy billions of dollars every year.
Chinese hackers targeted the intellectual property of US companies in China every day, he said in a television interview.
"I liken them a bit to a drunk burglar. They're kicking in the front door, knocking over the vase, while they're walking out with your television set. They're just prolific. Their strategy seems to be: 'we'll just be everywhere all the time. And there's no way they can stop us'," Comey said on CBS' 60 Minutes.
The US Justice Department earlier this year announced a 31-count indictment against Chinese hackers accused of breaking into computer networks at steel companies and the manufacturers of solar and nuclear technology, with the goal of gaining a competitive advantage. China has denied the allegations.
Comey said China topped the list of countries seeking to pilfer secrets from US firms, suggesting that almost every major firm in America had been targeted.
"There are two kinds of big companies in the United States," he said. "There are those who've been hacked by the Chinese and those who don't know they've been hacked by the Chinese."
Comey cited the historic case of five members of the People's Liberation Army indicted with hacking US companies for trade secrets, a move which outraged China when announced in May.
The case is the first-ever federal prosecution of state actors over cyber-espionage.
The PLA unit is accused of hacking into US computers to benefit Chinese state-owned companies, leading to job losses in the United States in steel, solar and other industries.
"They are extremely aggressive and widespread in their efforts to break into American systems to steal information that would benefit their industry," Comey said of China's hackers.
Comey said China was seeking to obtain "information that's useful to them so they don't have to invent"
"They can copy or steal to learn about how a company might approach negotiations with a Chinese company, all manner of things," he said.
Asked for a dollar estimate of the intellectual property stolen by China, Comey said it was incalculable. "Impossible to count," he said. Billions."
Last week, big bank JPMorgan Chase revealed that a hack it had reported in August had compromised data on 76 million household customers and seven million businesses, including their names, email addresses and telephone numbers.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, speaking on ABC television, declined to address the JPMorgan Chase case specifically. But he stressed: "We have made enormous efforts to bring attention to this and resources to this. The president [Barack Obama] has taken action through an executive order.
"Look, we have a lot of concerns about the sources of attacks because there are many different sources. "
Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
