National Intelligence Director James Clapper told House Intelligence Committee members Thursday that cybersecurity threats are getting more sophisticated and pose a significant impact on the U.S.’ economic and national security programs.
In his prepared testimony for the committee hearing, Clapper said public and private organizations that rely on unclassified information and communication technologies remain vulnerable to online espionage and network disruption.
The intelligence community foresees “an ongoing series of low-to-moderate level cyber attacks from a variety of sources over time,” he told lawmakers.
He observed government and industry security professionals implementing new tools to detect and attribute intruders and that intelligence agencies are able to gain new insight from analyses of cyber attacks launched by foreign actors.
During the meeting, he cited Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as nations that have the capabilities to carry out targeted attacks on critical infrastructure.
The IC produced the National Intelligence Strategy last yearto help agencies collect, analyze and disseminate intelligence data on potential foreign cyber threats to the U.S., Clapper added.
