US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray revealed that Chinese hackers outnumber FBI cyber personnel by a ratio of 50 to one.
The disclosure came as the US and other countries face immense cyber threats, particularly from China.
“To give you an idea of what we’re up against, if every single FBI cyber agent and intelligence analyst focused exclusively on the China threat, Chinese hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber staff by at least minus 50 to 1,” Wray said. during a House Appropriations subcommittee meeting, CNBC reports.
China has “a larger hacking program than any other major nation combined and has stolen more of our personal and corporate data than all other nations, large or small, combined,” he told the congressional panel.
Other countries such as Russia, Iran, and North Korea also pose significant cybersecurity issues.
The FBI is currently investigating more than 100 “ransomware variants” with “dozens of victims” for each.
At least 30,000 organizations in the US, including government and commercial companies, were hacked by China-based threat actors in 2021 who used Microsoft’s Exchange Server software to break into their networks.
According to KrebsOnSecurity, the China-based spy group exploited four vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server email software.
The vulnerabilities allowed hackers to gain access to email accounts and also gave them the ability to install malware, according to Microsoft, which reported on the China-based threat actors but did not disclose the scale at which they have been spread. Tens of thousands of organizations have been affected.
Nine federal agencies and about 100 private sector companies were compromised as a result of an earlier attack on SolarWinds, the White House said.
In a widespread cyberattack against US federal agencies and businesses using SolarWinds software, the hackers also broke into the networks of NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
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