FBI Director: Chinese Hackers Outnumber American Cyber ​​Experts at Least 50 Times

FBI Director Christopher Wray. Photo: Reuters

Speaking before lawmakers during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on April 27, Mr. Wray outlined the FBI’s recent cybersecurity efforts and the agency’s funding needs, saying that hackers have the ability to cause “greater damage than ever before” while placing particular emphasis on “the threat from China.”

“The scale of the Chinese cyber threat is unprecedented,” he said. “It has a larger cyberattack program than all other major countries combined, and has stolen more of our personal and corporate data than all other countries, large and small, combined,” he said, stressing that Washington is trying to catch up with Beijing in the cyber realm. “To give you an idea of ​​what we’re up against, if every FBI cyber agent and intelligence analyst focused solely on the threat from China… Chinese hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber agents by at least 50 to 1,” Wray explained.

The FBI director also warned of cyberattacks by other countries, including Russia, Iran and North Korea, but asserted that China is the greatest danger to US privacy and security, pointing to Beijing's "multi-pronged strategy" to surpass Washington as a "global superpower".

In addition to “nation-state actors,” Mr. Wray also noted the FBI’s concerns about private cybercrime, saying the agency is currently investigating “more than 100 different ransomware variants.” The FBI has requested funding to create about 200 cyber positions in its field office to address the purported threat from China, which would require just $63 million, on top of its proposed $10.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2023.

“No country poses a more significant threat to our innovation, to our ideas, to our economic security, to our national security than the Chinese government,” Mr. Wray said. “And that is why we have increased the number of investigations targeting threats from China by 1,300 percent.”

Chinese officials have rejected US accusations of cyberattacks and data theft, instead leveling similar accusations at Washington. Earlier this month, China’s Foreign Ministry said the US was now the “biggest threat to global cybersecurity” as it sought to “maintain hegemony in cyberspace,” and urged Washington to stop “global cyberattacks.”