FBI director urges private sector to lend government more support in cyber intelligence
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Capitol Hill May 10, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
WASHINGTON, D.C. – FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday that the federal government is relying more than ever on private sector support to ensure that U.S. infrastructure remains secure.
Speaking at Mandiant’s mWise Conference in Washington, Wray told a packed room of analysts and cybersecurity professionals that it’s become “increasingly difficult to discern where cybercriminal activity ends and adversarial nation-state activity begins.” Mandiant is owned by Google.
Wray and the FBI have moved to interfere with ransomware infrastructure and groups alongside both international and domestic law enforcement, including notable disruptions of the Qakbot botnet and the Hive ransomware group. Wray said that artificial intelligence may help China’s cyber intelligence operations in their efforts to overpower U.S. defenses, and reiterated that Chinese hackers outnumber the FBI’s cyber and intelligence agents by at least 50 to 1.
“Criminals and hostile governments are already exploiting the technology,” Wray said. China is poised to “use the fruits of their widespread hacking to power, with AI, even-more-powerful hacking efforts,” he added.
In China, state-affiliated groups have been linked to influence campaigns on major social networks. But there are also attacks coming from elsewhere. North Korean hacking groups, for example, often seek to generate revenue for the government while gathering espionage for the state. And Russian hackers have extorted millions of dollars in ransom from businesses worldwide and targeted infrastructure in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
Wray said “it’s becoming increasingly difficult to discern where cybercriminal activity ends and adversarial nation-state activity begins,” like when the government sees “hackers who are profit-minded criminals by day and state-sponsored by night.”
While government efforts, including from the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Agency, have been effective, the U.S. relies heavily on “collaborative, public-private” operations to identify threats and stop them, he said.
Wray said such partnerships aren’t new. He cited joint efforts in 2021, after a cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline disrupted fuel supply across the East Coast.
“We know the private sector hasn’t always been excited about working with federal law enforcement,” Wray said. “But when you contact us about an intrusion, we won’t be showing up in raid jackets.”
Wray praised Colonial’s rapid response and its quick engagement of Mandiant, which helped ease information sharing with the government and allowed the FBI to “quickly make substantial breakthroughs” in identifying the cybercriminals behind the attack.
WATCH: China’s Corporate Spy War
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Meta shares hit a record high on Monday, underscoring investor interest in the company’s new AI superintelligence group.
The company’s shares reached $747.90 during midday trading, topping Meta’s previous stock market record in February when it began laying off the 5% of its workforce that it deemed “low performers.”
Meta joins Microsoft and Nvidia among tech megacaps that have reached new highs of late, all closing at records Monday. Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla remain below their all-time highs reached late last year or early this year.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on an AI hiring blitz amid fierce competition with rivals such as OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet. Earlier in June, Meta said it would hire Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and some of his colleagues as part of a $14.3 billion investment into the executive’s data labeling and annotation startup.
The social media company also hired Nat Friedman and his business partner, Daniel Gross, the chief of Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup with a valuation of $32 billion, CNBC reported on June 19. Meta’s attempts to buy Safe Superintelligence were rebuffed by the startup’s founder and AI expert Ilya Sutskever, the report noted.
Wang and Friedman are the leaders of Meta’s new Superintelligence Labs, tasked with overseeing the company’s artificial intelligence foundation models, projects and research, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The term superintelligence refers to technology that exceeds human capability.
Bloomberg News first reported about the new superintelligence unit.
Meta has also snatched AI researchers from OpenAI. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, said during a podcast that Meta was offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million.
Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s technology chief, spoke about the social media company’s AI hiring spree during a June 20 interview with CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime,” saying that the talent market is “really incredible and kind of unprecedented in my 20-year career as a technology executive.”
An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation flies near the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 12, 2023.
Roselle Chen | Reuters
Joby Aviation stock soared about 12% as the flying air taxi maker got closer to launching a service in the United Arab Emirates.
The electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, company said Monday that it delivered its first aircraft to the UAE and has completed piloted flight tests as it readies for a 2026 launch in the region.
“Our flights and operational footprint in Dubai are a monumental step toward weaving air taxi services into the fabric of daily life worldwide,” said founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt in a release. He called the Middle East nation a “launchpad for a global revolution in how we move.”
Joby’s planned launch in the UAE was announced in February 2024 as part of an agreement with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority. The deal included exclusive rights to conduct air taxi service in Dubai for six years.
As part of the project, Joby said in November that it began building one vertiport at Dubai International Airport, with three additional locations slated for Palm Jumeirah and Dubai’s downtown and marina. Joby also announced an air taxi agreement with three Abu Dhabi government departments in 2024.
The California-based company has made other expansion moves in the Middle East. Shares jumped earlier this month after Saudi Arabian firm Abdul Latif Jameel announced a roughly $1 billion investment for up to 300 eVTOLs. The firm participated in Joby’s Series C funding round.
Joby shares have surged more than 32% this year, swelling its market capitalization to over $9 billion.
Demand for air taxis, which take off and land similar to helicopters, has gained momentum in recent years. The service faces regulatory and safety hurdles but has been lauded for its ability to cut traffic congestion and slash emissions.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that included a pilot program for testing electric air taxis.
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