The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is increasingly anxious to enlist the private sector in the losing battle it is fighting against global cybercrime and espionage. Speaking in Washington on Monday, FBI director Christopher Wray stressed the importance of “collaborative, public-private” operations in fighting cybercrime, developing a strategy previously outlined by FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate at a Boston cybersecurity conference three months ago.
“Last year, Americans reported unprecedented financial losses—more than $10.2 billion—to cyber criminals. In the Boston Division, victims reported losing more than $298 million; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, called for private sector reinforcements, saying, “We are all in this fight together to ensure that our digitally connected world is safe and secure,” during the seventh annual Boston Conference on Cyber Security on June 7, held at Boston College.
The increasingly blurred line between cybercrime and cyber-espionage, coupled with China’s use of AI, has galvanized the FBI into enlisting the help of the private sector. The US is concerned at the governmental level that China may already be winning the war in cyberspace by enlisting the latest technologies in planned attacks on the US economy and its critical infrastructure.
Addressing Google-owned Mandiant’s mWise Conference in Washington on Monday, Wray said: “It is increasingly difficult to discern where cybercriminal activity ends, and adversarial nation-state activity begins,” citing “hackers who are profit-minded criminals by day and state-sponsored by night.”
Chinese hackers outnumber FBI agents by 50 to 1
Wray added that China is using artificial intelligence (AI) to power its intelligence operations in cyberspace with the aim of eventually overpowering US defenses and that Chinese hackers already outnumber the FBI’s cyber and intelligence agents by at least 50 to 1.
“Criminals and hostile governments are already exploiting the technology,” Wray said, adding that China is now poised to use AI to create even more powerful hacking tools.
The FBI is also aware that heavy-handed tactics used in the past when dealing with cyber-attacks and increasingly draconian US laws regarding the immediate reporting of significant cyber-attacks may have made some companies reluctant to call in the FBI for help.
“We know the private sector hasn’t always been excited about working with federal law enforcement,” Wray said. “But when you contact us about an intrusion, we won’t be showing up in raid jackets.”
