Cyber crime 'to overtake terrorism' as top threat facing the US

Iran has been identified as the main cyber threat to the United States as the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) claims that intrusions are not being detected.

The report by DNI James R. Clapper identified Iran as the main danger to America's information security. It said: “Russia and China are aggressive and successful purveyors of economic espionage against the United States. Iran's intelligence operations against the United States, including cyber capabilities, have dramatically increased in recent years in depth and complexity. We assess that FIS (foreign intelligence services) from these three countries will remain the top threats to the United States in the coming years.”

He also claimed that FIS have launched numerous computer network operations that target US government agencies, businesses and universities, and believed that "many intrusions into US networks are not being detected".

“Although most activity detected to date has been targeted against unclassified networks connected to the internet, foreign cyber actors have also begun targeting classified networks,” he said.

On insider threats, Clapper said insiders have caused significant damage to US interests through the theft and unauthorised disclosure of classified, economic and proprietary information and other acts of espionage.

Observing the sophistication of computer network operations (CNO), Clapper said these are likely to increase in coming years. He acknowledged the two strategic challenges regarding cyber threats as: the difficulty of providing timely, actionable warning of cyber threats and incidents, such as identifying past or present security breaches, definitively attributing them and accurately distinguishing between cyber espionage intrusions and potentially disruptive cyber attacks; and the highly complex vulnerabilities associated with the IT supply chain for US networks.

“In both cases, US government engagement with private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructures is essential for mitigating these threats,” he said.

According to FBI director Robert Mueller said cyber espionage, computer crime and attacks on critical infrastructure will surpass terrorism as the number one threat facing the US.

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