You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

FBI Director: Chinese Hackers Have Infiltrated Every Major U.S. Company 'There are two kinds of big companies in the United States…those who've been hacked by the Chinese, and those who don't know they've been hacked by the Chinese.'

By Geoff Weiss

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In his first major television interview, FBI Director James Comey told 60 Minutes that shifting the agency's focus towards snuffing a wild proliferation of cybercrime would be central to his 10-year term.

"There are two kinds of big companies in the United States," Comey said during the interview, which aired Sunday. "There are those who've been hacked by the Chinese, and those who don't know they've been hacked by the Chinese."

While Comey said that, on a daily basis, there are too many attacks against American computer systems to even count -- and that these assaults have cost the U.S. government billions of dollars in totality -- he called China the top perpetrator on a very long list.

The Chinese are specifically targeting U.S. businesses in order to obtain "information that's useful to them so they don't have to invent," Comey said. Additionally, "They can copy or steal to learn about how a company might approach negotiations with a Chinese company."

Related: U.S. Charges Chinese Officials With Economic Espionage

To this end, for the first time, the U.S. Justice Department filed criminal charges against five Chinese government officials on counts of cyber espionage earlier this year. The hackers, members of the People's Liberation Army, were accused of breaking into nuclear, steel and renewable energy companies in order to tap valuable trade secrets.

At the end of the day, however, Comey does believe that Americans should sleep well at night. Investments in the security sector since 9/11 have resulted in "better systems, better equipment, smarter deployment," he says.

He also called China highly unsophisticated -- though inexhaustible -- in its approach to espionage. "I liken them a bit to a drunk burglar. They're kicking in the front door, knocking over the vase, while they're walking out with your television set. They're just prolific. Their strategy seems to be: We'll just be everywhere all the time. And there's no way they can stop us."

Nonetheless, Comey feels that most citizens don't fully comprehend the extent of abounding threats. "When someone sends you an email," he warns, "they are knocking on your door. And when you open the attachment, without looking through the peephole to see who it is, you just opened the door and let a stranger into your life, where everything you care about is."

Related: FBI to Apple, Google: Your New Privacy Policies Are Making People Less Safe

Geoff Weiss

Former Staff Writer

Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Growing a Business

To Achieve Sustainable Success, You Need to Stop Focusing on Disruption. Here's Why — and What You Must Focus on Instead.

Instead of zeroing in solely on disruptive innovation, embrace a pragmatic approach to innovation, recognizing and leveraging the potential within ongoing industry shifts.

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Says This CEO Is the 'Taylor Swift' of Tech

Meta's CEO posed with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Instagram Wednesday.

Real Estate

3 Emerging Trends Shaping the Future of Real Estate

These three innovations are reshaping the real estate industry — discover tips for effectively covering these trends.

Leadership

What We Have to Gain By Talking About Grief and Loss At Work

I lost my husband to cancer during Covid — here's how it changed how I lead at work.

Side Hustle

This Mom Started a Side Hustle After a 'Shocking' Realization in the Toy Aisle. Her Product Was in Macy's Within the Year — Seeing Nearly $350,000 in Sales.

Elenor Mak, now founder of Jilly Bing, didn't plan to start a business — but the search for a doll that looked like her daughter inspired her to do just that.

Fundraising

Avoid These 9 Pitch Deck Mistakes When Asking Others For Money

Crafting an efficient pitch deck requires serious effort, but at least it's not wandering in the dark since certain rules are shaped by decades of relationships between startups and investors.