Christopher Wray, FBI Director, appeared Thursday before the House Appropriations Committee and said that Beijing had stolen more data than any other country from the U.S. and that the FBI was outnumbered by their internet spies.
Cyber threats today are more widespread, affect a greater variety of victims, and have the potential to cause greater damage than before. Take China. Cyber is a key component of China’s multipronged strategy that includes lying, cheating, and stealing to overtake us as a global superpower.
The director then went on to describe the extent of the problem.
The Chinese cyber threat has a scale that is unmatched. The Chinese have a larger hacking program than any other nation, big or small. They have also stolen more personal and corporate information than all other countries combined.
If all of the FBI’s intel analysts and cyber agents focused solely on China, the Chinese hackers would outnumber FBI personnel by a ratio of at least 50:1.
At today’s House Appropriations Committee hearing, #FBI Director Christopher Wray reiterated that “the scale of the Chinese cyber threat is unparalleled” and that “they’ve got a bigger hacking program than every other major nation combined.” pic.twitter.com/hKRvt3Eeh4
— FBI (@FBI) April 27, 2023
Wray asked for over 63 million dollars in funding to fund nearly 197 additional cyber positions at the FBI.
Why are we sending the IRS over $80 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act to hire over 20,000 additional staffers over the next two-year period? Why not take a portion of this money and put it towards our cyber programs? Just a suggestion.
Watch Wray’s testimony
The FBI chief explained that the Chinese Communist Party was the largest–but not only–threat against our digital interests.
China is by no means the only cyberspace threat. We are investigating more than 100 ransomware variations, each with scores of victims.
In addition to China, other countries include Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
The cyber criminal threat is becoming more difficult to distinguish from the threat of nation-states.
He continued to say that cyber attacks have been launched against the U.S. critical infrastructure including hospitals, schools, 911 call centers, and more. Plus, these attacks don’t only happen in large cities, but also in smaller communities.
Wray explained what the Bureau will do with the money he is requesting.
By putting those resources to work, we will ensure that the FBI is the premier cyber investigation agency in the world by fighting our adversaries with joint operations and rapid sharing of information with the private sector. We will build out our model cyber teams, each of which tackles multiple threats, in more field offices. This will allow us to place investigators, analysts, and other key professionals near the victims who need us. By providing our employees with cutting-edge training.
We need to continue to respond in kind to our opponents who are persistent in this area.
CCP is definitely more aggressive now that Biden has taken office. They have sent spy balloons across the continent of America and set up their own police station in our cities. The FBI, under Director Wray, and his boss Attorney General Merrick G. Garland has become an overly politicized agency. However, they seem to be playing it straight in this case. We must take China’s cyber-security very seriously.
We could take a small amount of the IRA funds…
