FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned that China is the “defining threat of our generation” as he reiterated serious concerns over the country’s cyber and physical threats toward the US.
Wray has consistently highlighted these concerns for months, both through personal statements and congressional testimony.
Speaking during a speech at the American Bar Association in Washington, he warned: “Front and center is China – the defining threat of our generation.
“To put it simply, the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is throwing its whole government at undermining the security and economy of the rule-of-law world.”
“China’s hacking program is larger than that of every other major nation, combined.
“If each one of the FBI’s cyber agents and intelligence analysts focused exclusively on the China threat, China’s hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to 1,” he added.
“And it’s not just cyber, but also traditional espionage and economic espionage, foreign malign influence, election interference, and transnational repression – often working in tandem,” he continued.
“They recruit human sources to target our businesses, using insiders to steal the same kinds of innovation and data their hackers are targeting.”
“They’re engaging in corporate deception – hiding Beijing’s hand in transactions, joint ventures and investments – all with the same goal,” he added.
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In February at a security conference in Munich, Wray shared a similar sentiment.
“You might find your companies harassed and hacked, targeted by a web of corporate CCP proxies,” he told the leaders gathered in Germany.
“You might also find PRC [People’s Republic of China] hackers lurking in your power stations, your phone companies and other infrastructure, poised to take them down when they decide you stepped too far out of line, and that hurting your civilian population suits the CCP.”
