FBI Boss: Every Big US Business Hacked By China

The director of the FBI has warned that every big company in the US is likely to have been hacked by China.

James Comey said in a television interview that China tops the list of countries seeking to steal secrets from major US firms.

The attacks cost companies billions of dollars every year, Mr Comey told CBS’ 60 Minutes programme.

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

He cited an example from May in which five members of China's People's Liberation Army were charged with hacking US companies for trade secrets.

It is the first-ever federal prosecution of state actors over cyber-espionage.

The unit is accused of hacking into US computers to benefit Chinese state-owned companies, leading to job losses in the United States steel (NYSE: X - news) and solar industries.

Stolen information is useful to other nations as it cuts out the need to spend money researching and developing new technologies.

Mr Comey added: "They can copy or steal to learn about how a company might approach negotiations with a Chinese company all manner of things."

However he assured viewers that hacking attempts by China were easy to detect.

"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.'"

Last week, JPMorgan Chase revealed that a hack it had reported in August had compromised data on 76 million household customers and seven million businesses.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said: "(Business leaders) are taking it seriously. I don't think there's a CEO in the financial sector that doesn't wake up in the morning with this on their mind."

However, earlier this year China accused the US of hypocrisy over cyberhacking.

China’s defence ministry said at the time: "From WikiLeaks to the Edward Snowden case, US hypocrisy and double standards regarding the issue of cyber security have long been abundantly clear."