The US is vulnerable to cyberattacks that could shut down financial services or destroy information that companies need for daily operations, the chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee says.
Mike Rogers said 95 per cent of private sector networks are vulnerable, and most have already been hit.
What's being stolen? Personal identities, money from banks, blueprints for next-generation jobs. At risk are private companies and public agencies.
Some estimates put the value of information hacked at up to $US400 billion ($390 bn) a year. But many companies are reluctant to admit they've been attacked to keep a competitive edge and avoid reactions from shareholders.
The Republican says hackers have stepped up attacks since last year, and he points to China and Iran.
"They're taking blueprints back, not just military documents, but civilian innovation that companies are gonna use to create production lines to build things," Rogers said. "They're stealing that, repurposing it back in nations like China and competing in the international market."
Rogers told CBS that the US government has, essentially "set up lawn chairs, told the burglars where the silver is ... and opened the case of beer and watched them do it".
A bipartisan bill to shore up the nation's cyberdefences passed the House of Representatives but died in the Senate in the last Congress. Similar legislation could be introduced again as early as this week.
For Rogers, the fix is "very simple".
"Share information about threats online," he said. "The senior leadership in the intelligence community said that they think that we can stop 90 per cent of our problems by just sharing classified cyberthreat information."A
