US Intelligence chief fingers China, Russia as most active in cyber espionage against America

The Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats says China and Russia are the most active in cyber espionage against the United States.

Coats, leader of the U.S. intelligence community who revealed that much in a prepared testimony shared with U.S. senators on Tuesday said China and Russia are more aligned than they have been in decades.

He added that some American allies are pulling away from Washington in reaction to changing U.S. policies on security and trade.

“China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea increasingly use cyber operations to threaten both minds and machines in an expanding number of ways – to steal information, to influence our citizens, or to disrupt critical infrastructure,” Coats said.

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“Moscow’s relationship with Beijing is closer than it’s been in many decades,” Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual hearing on worldwide threats, where he testified with the director of the CIA, FBI and other top intelligence officials.

Coats’ comments are coming after a top executive of Huawei was charged with misleading banks and violating US sanctions.

Also joined in the charge by the US Department of Justice are two subsidiaries of the Chinese tech company which are also charged in a separate indictment with stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile.

No immediate reaction to the charges have been made by Huawei on its Twitter or Facebook accounts.

The company and Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the company’s founder have denied any wrongdoing.

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