Heads of America’s federal intelligence agencies met before the Senate Tuesday to discuss the biggest threats facing the world. Here are the tech troubles that the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence are worrying about right now:
Election meddling. “Persistent and disruptive cyber operations will continue against the United States and our European allies using elections as opportunities to undermine democracy,” explained Dan Coats, director of national intelligence.
IP gobbling. “[China is] exploiting the very open R&D environment we have, which we all revere,” said FBI director Christopher Wray. “They’re taking advantage of it.” The level of infiltration by Chinese students and researchers in the US, he said, showed a “level of naïveté” in academia.
More hacks. Russian attacks on power stations, Chinese digital espionage, North Korean cyber-heists to raise funds—Coats warned that there’s plenty more to come.
