Changing technologies including cloud computing will likely provide new openings for espionage within U.S. networks, says a new report from the office of the national counterintelligence executive.

ONCIX produces periodic reports on foreign economic and industrial espionage within the United States, focusing this year's narrative on foreign collector use of cyberspace.  

As government agencies, corporations and other organizations shift data to the cloud, the movement of data among multiple locations "will increase the opportunities for theft or manipulation by malicious actors," the report asserts.

So too will the rise of mobile devices such as smartphones, the report says. ONCIX analysts say the number of devices connected to the Internet and other networks could double to 25 billion by 2015. As the number of endpoints rise, operating systems will proliferate, and underlying hardware and software become even more complex, malicious actors will be able to exploit this technological shift to their advantage, the report adds.

Simultaneous with the rise in mobile devices and cloud computing, there will likely be a cultural shift in which workers will draw even fewer distinctions between their home and work lives, meaning that they'll demand both types of information from any location, the report says--also increasing the potential risk of theft.

The report fingers China and Russia as the two most aggressive and capable collectors of sensitive American economic information and technology, "particularly in cyberspace." The report notes that many corporations have reported an onslaught of computer network intrusions originating from Chinese Internet protocol addresses, but hastens to add that the intelligence community "has not been able to attribute many of these private sector data breaches to a state sponsor."

However, the report says the Chinese government funds an effort dubbed "Project 863," which "provides funding and guidance for efforts to clandestinely acquire U.S. technology and sensitive economic information."

Among the aspects of economic activity likely to draw grater foreign interest are information and communications technology itself as well as military technologies, the report says. China has a particular interest in jump-starting development of a blue-water navy, and unmanned aerial vehicles are of universal interest.

Advanced materials and manufacturing techniques are of great interest to China, too, the report adds.

For more:
- download the ONCIX 2011 report

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