The world has changed considerably in the last few decades. Where once the KGB was America’s main problem with its reasonably traditional attacks, America now has a whole host of new enemies who are not fighting any open wars against it, but who are using technology in order to spy on the U.S. and to weaken it.

Case in point: China.

Peter Brookes reports for the China Post:

In the last few weeks, the media has been filled with reports of Chinese cyber spies penetrating the computer networks of both presidential campaigns and even the White House, reading unclassified, but clearly privileged, e-mails.

Unfortunately, that’s only the beginning of it.

No surprise that the Chinese would be interested in what’s being said in the White House, even the non-secret stuff. White House staffers have access to plenty of information that would be of interest to the chaps in Zhongnanhai (the Chinese leadership compound)…

China’s hacker army is also targeting American industry for espionage, especially the defense industry, where new weapons systems and top-of-the-line defense technology are at the center of the bull’s eye…

The same is true with the civilian side of private industry. Beijing is pilfering the technology of U.S. and other foreign firms that set up shop on Chinese soil. In fact, some firms resist putting cutting-edge research and development there for exactly that reason.

Since traditional espionage can be tough in a foreign country (recruiting a spy to pinch information can be expensive, difficult and politically risky), the Chinese have turned to cyberspace. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine who’s picked your pocket, providing plausible deniability to the cyber spook. Spies cover their electronic tracks by routing their penetration through any number of surrogate servers around the world, making finger-pointing difficult.

Not surprisingly, the amount of industrial cyber espionage is grossly underreported, as firms fret over acknowledging that their intellectual property — the crown-jewels of their efforts — has been “exfiltrated.”

And then the key point:

In the end, the Chinese aren’t only stealing our industrial and defense secrets, but something more important: Our ability to compete globally.

America’s great strength has been its ability to innovate — to develop new ideas and concepts. Arguably, no country in history has been as ground-breaking in as many fields as Uncle Sam. It’s something we’ve a right to be proud of.

The theft of our intellectual property — by anyone — means we’ll be less able to compete in international markets as well as protect our security interests, including against the likes of a rising China, destined to be a peer competitor.

What China is doing is this: it is stealing America’s knowledge and innovative ideas. It then uses it for itself, causing the U.S. to suffer in a world in which innovation is key to success. The U.S. will have to guard itself against China’s cyber attacks. Companies and the government can pretend publicly that the problem does not exist, but they will need to do something about this major issue behind closed doors; the best minds in the U.S. should work on it – in the end, the U.S. has tremendous knowledge in this respect, with some of the best computerminds more than willing to help out.

As long as the pay is OK.