From AAIA Capital Report

A report released by the Obama administration found that “Foreign economic collection and industrial espionage against the United States represent significant and growing threats to the nation’s prosperity and security.”

Titled “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace: Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage, 2009-2011,” the report states that foreign collectors of sensitive economic information are able to operate in cyberspace with relatively little risk of detection by their private sector targets. According to the report, “The proliferation of malicious software, prevalence of cyber tool sharing, use of hackers as proxies and routing of operations through third countries make it difficult to attribute responsibility for computer network intrusions. Cyber tools have enhanced the economic espionage threat, and the Intelligence Community (IC) judges the use of such tools is already a larger threat than traditional espionage methods.”

The report further states that Chinese actors are the most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage. In addition, Russia’s intelligence services are conducting a range of activities to collect economic information and technology from U.S. targets.

The report concludes that, “Because the United States is a leader in the development of new technologies and a central player in global financial and trade networks, foreign attempts to collect U.S. technological and economic information will continue at a high level and will represent a growing and persistent threat to U.S. economic security. In addition, over the next several years, the proliferation of portable devices that connect to the Internet and other networks will continue to create new opportunities for malicious actors to conduct espionage. The trend in both commercial and government organizations toward the pooling of information processing and storage will present even greater challenges to preserving the security and integrity of sensitive information.”

A copy of the report can be viewed at http://www.dni.gov/reports/20111103_report_fecie.pdf.