Ex-NSA director: China has hacked 'every major corporation' in U.S.

Mike McConnell, when he was still national director of intelligence at the tailend of the Bush administration.

Mike McConnell, who served as director of national intelligence under President George W. Bush, made the comments during a speech at the University of Missouri on Thursday.

"The Chinese have penetrated every major corporation of any consequence in the United States and taken information," he said. "We've never, ever not found Chinese malware."

He said the malware lets Chinese spies extract information whenever they want. McConnell, who also led the NSA from 1992 until 1996, continues to investigate hacks as a high-ranking adviser to Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH).

He listed victims he has come across during his investigations: U.S. Congress, Department of Defense, State Department (which is currently dealing with Russian hackers) and major corporations.

The U.S. government has said it has caught Chinese spies stealing blueprints and business plans. Last year, federal prosecutors took the unprecedented step of filing formal criminal charges against five Chinese government spies for breaking into Alcoa (AA), U.S. Steel Corp. (X), Westinghouse and others.

But McConnell's assertion is different. It would mean that no large company can escape the massive theft of American entrepreneurial ideas.

In his speech, McConnell also said that during the final years of the Bush administration, the Chinese government employed a jaw-dropping 100,000 hackers dedicated solely to breaking into computers. By comparison, he said the United States had that many spies -- total.

McConnell listed what the Chinese are stealing: "planning information for advanced concepts, windmills, automobiles, airplanes, space ships, manufacturing design, software."

"If they can take that, before we can take it to market - for free - and it's unchecked for 15, 20 years, I would say that has strategic consequences for the United States," he said.

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Ex-NSA director: China has hacked 'every major corporation' in U.S.