The director of the FBI, James Comey has warned that Chinese hackers have embarked on a widespread campaign of cyber-warfare against the US.
Comey revealed this while speaking to CBS’s 60 Minutes.
He explained that Chinese hackers aren’t looking to profit from stolen credit card details, or find personal information. Instead, they’re looking for something similar to trade secrets that can be used in China.
They’re looking for information that’s useful to them so they don’t have to invent it.
They can copy or steal to learn about how a company might approach negotiations with a Chinese company, all manner of things.
60 Minutes host Scott Pelley asked Comey how much Chinese hackers are costing the US economy. He said that the cost is impossible to count, but was likely in the billions.
Source: BI