【英语财经】美国称中国是经济间谍案激增元凶 FBI blames China for 53% spy case surge

The FBI has labelled China “the most dominant threat” to US companies, saying it believed Beijing was the main culprit behind a 53 per cent jump in economic espionage cases its agents are investigating.

FBI officials warned on Thursday that hundreds of billions of dollars were now being lost every year from the theft of trade secrets, intellectual property, sales and pricing information and other company data, posing a national security threat to the US.

“China is the most dominant threat we face from economic espionage,” said Randall Coleman, assistant director of the agency’s counterintelligence unit. “The Chinese government plays a significant role. The playing field is not level.”

The FBI on Thursday launched a campaign to educate businesses about the threat, saying economic espionage cases now number in the hundreds each year.

It released a video called “The Company Man: Protecting America’s Secrets”, based on a real case in which two Chinese citizens attempted to steal insulation technology from a US company.

The suspects used social media, online job ads and head hunters, and proposed a joint venture to try to connect with employees and steal the information. They were caught after an employee agreed to help catch them.

The video has been shown privately about 1,300 times to companies over the past year as part of the FBI’s outreach programme. Agents urged businesses to work with the bureau to address the threat.

In an FBI survey of 165 companies, 50 per cent acknowledged that trade secrets or intellectual property had been stolen and 95 per cent suspected China was behind the thefts, said William Evanina, counterintelligence executive at the office of the director of national intelligence.

Information on military telecoms, precious metals, hybrid technology, seed and grain hybrids, paint technology and financial institution data are among targets.

Spear phishing campaigns are also used, in which employees click on links in fake emails that install malware or other malicious software.

In May US authorities charged three Tianjin University professors and three other Chinese citizens with economic espionage, claiming they had stolen sensitive US technology to help Chinese universities and government-controlled companies.

They were accused of stealing information about a technology used in smartphones, tablets and GPS devices from Skyworks Solutions in Massachusetts and Avago Technologies in Colorado. The technology also has military applications.

In 2014 five Chinese soldiers were indicted over cyber attacks and economic espionage on US companies.

美国联邦调查局(FBI)把中国列为美国企业的“最主要威胁”，该局认为，中国是其探员正在调查的经济间谍案激增53%的主要祸首。

FBI官员周四警告称，美国现在每年因贸易机密、知识产权、销售和定价信息以及其他公司数据被窃损失数千亿美元，对美国构成了国家安全威胁。

“中国是我们面临的最主要的经济间谍威胁，”FBI反情报部门助理主任兰德尔?科尔曼(Randall Coleman)表示，“中国政府发挥了重要作用。竞争并不公平。”

FBI周四推出一项活动，传授企业有关间谍威胁的知识，FBI表示，经济间谍案现在每年高达数百起。

FBI发布了一段视频，名为“公司人：保护美国机密”，视频的内容是一宗真实案例，讲的是两名中国公民试图窃取一家美国公司的绝缘技术。

这两名嫌疑人利用社交媒体、在线求职广告以及猎头，并提出组建合资企业，试图与相关员工取得联系并窃取信息。在一名员工同意帮助抓住他们后，他们被捕。

作为FBI广泛计划的一部分，过去一年，这段视频私下向美国企业播放了约1300次。FBI探员敦促企业与FBI合作应对这种威胁。

美国国家情报总监办公室(Office of the Director of National Intelligence)反情报主管威廉?埃文尼纳(William Evanina)表示，在FBI对165家公司的调查中，50%的公司承认，贸易机密或知识产权曾遭窃取，95%的公司怀疑，中国是幕后指使。

有关军事电信、贵金属、混合动力技术、杂交种子和粮食作物、涂料技术以及金融机构数据的信息都是被窃取的目标。

钓鱼手段也被使用，员工点击虚假电邮中的链接，就会中招。电邮中会植入恶意软件或其他有害软件。

今年5月，美国政府指控天津大学(Tianjin University) 3名教授以及另外3位中国公民涉嫌经济间谍活动。美国声称，他们窃取了美国敏感技术，以帮助中国大学和由政府控制的企业。

他们被控从马萨诸塞州的思佳讯(Skyworks Solutions)和科罗拉多州的安华高科技(Avago Technologies)窃取技术信息，该技术应用于智能手机、平板电脑和全球定位系统(GPS)设备，还用于军事。

2014年，5名中国军人被控针对美国企业进行网络攻击并涉嫌经济间谍活动。

译者/何黎