China’s regime has the world’s largest hacking program, and its artificial intelligence program is built on classified data stolen by the regime over the years, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday. Stated.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Lei warned of the cybersecurity threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s use of technological advances against the United States.
Lei said China’s artificial intelligence programs are “built on a vast amount of intellectual property” and are not bound by the same set of laws that apply in the United States and other democracies. Stated.
He said the CCP could use artificial intelligence to advance hacking programs, intellectual property theft and repression. Not only do these originate in mainland China, but they are “increasingly becoming products exported around the world.”
“That’s something that we are deeply concerned about, and I think everyone here should be deeply concerned about,” Wray said on the forum.
Such concerns have long been expressed by US officials.
For example, in October 2021, U.S. counterintelligence officials announced that as part of a new effort to inform business executives, academics, and local and state officials about the risks of accepting Chinese investments and expertise in key industries, artificial It issued a warning about China’s ambitions in intelligence.
Wray has previously emphasized that the CCP uses coercive laws to effectively force technology transfers from US companies doing business in China to the state.
US companies aware of surveillance
China’s national intelligence law supposedly allows the regime to demand data from any company in the name of security, but Lei said many US companies simply don’t want to be spied on. Said it was accepted.
“The Chinese economy also gives China influence and tools to control companies. The cost-effectiveness, at best, is blanket consent to state surveillance in the name of security,” Wray said at a cybersecurity talk at Boston University on June 1. 2022.
“In the worst case, we have to accept the risk that their classified information could be used to serve Beijing’s geopolitical goals,” he said.
Lei also explained how the CCP uses state-mandated taxation in China to covertly spy on mainland businesses. He said Chinese law requires companies to utilize a small suite of software options for tax purposes. At least one of them was used by the Chinese Communist Party to implant malware into companies’ systems to give the government covert access to their data.
Apart from direct government intervention, Wray said China, like Iran and Russia, hired hackers as if they were cyber mercenaries, providing them with state resources to carry out attacks on the United States on China’s behalf. said that he is
Such actors often target the defense and industrial sectors to wreak havoc, deny access or steal secrets, he said.
“The Chinese government is organized and hacking to support long-term economic goals,” he said.
“They have a bigger hacking program than all other major nations combined. They have stolen more American personal and business data than all nations combined. and has shown no signs of abating aggression.”
Andrew Thornebrooke and Associated Press contributed to this report.