The U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) has started to distribute informative materials ranging from brochures to videos to privately held companies around the country promoting increased awareness of rising cybersecurity threats from nation-state actors.

"Make no mistake, American companies are squarely in the cross-hairs of well-financed nation-state actors, who are routinely breaching private sector networks, stealing proprietary data, and compromising supply chains," stated NCSC Director William Evanina.

Evanina also said that "The attacks are persistent, aggressive, and cost our nation jobs, economic advantage, and hundreds of billions of dollars."

The campaign provides detailed info on the growing threat from foreign state hackers

NCSC is an Office of the Director of National Intelligence center, and it is designed to provide counterintelligence and security expertise in several areas, ranging from insider threat and supply chain risk management to personnel security.

To fight against this growing threat, NCSC decided to provide the U.S. private sector with the information it needs to understand and defend against cyber intrusions initiated by foreign governments.

Private sector also warned of rising foreign threat in December

This follows a statement made by Bill Priestap, Assistant Director, Counterintelligence Division of the FBI before the Senate Judiciary Committee in December 2018:

Many American businesses are just now starting to understand the new environment in which they are operating. The continued proliferation of cyber hacking tools and human intelligence capabilities means that this environment will only become more hostile and more treacherous for our companies. Our businesses face competitors in the form of aforeign enterprises assisted or directed by extremely capable intelligence and security services.

The materials distributed by the NCSC to raise awareness among private sector companies are part of a campaign dubbed "Know the Risk, Raise Your Shield."

Moreover, the disseminated materials cover a wide range of subjects, from supply chain risks, spear-phishing, and social engineering, to economic espionage, social media deception, foreign travel risks, and mobile device safety.

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