British intelligence says China and Russia's competing worldviews are currently the greatest threat to the freedom and security of the internet. Western nations must work together to face the threat.
Jeremy Fleming, the director of Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ - a branch of the British intelligence service handling signals and cybersecurity - said the threat must not be left unchecked. Fleming said foreign entities might threaten peoples' way of life by taking advantage of flaws in future technologies.
Fleming said securing future technologies such as smart homes, vehicles and cities will be the top priority. He said governments and the private sector must work together to counter the risk.
"Without action, it is increasingly clear that the key technologies on which we will rely for our future prosperity and security won't be shaped and controlled by the West. We are now facing a moment of reckoning," Fleming said.
Fleming called on Western nations to adapt to the rapid changes happening around them in terms of technological advantages. Excerpts from his speech released by his office talked about technological advancements that must be addressed. These include cryptographic technologies to protect sensitive information and quantum-based technologies.
U.S. intelligence officials made a similar assessment this week. The director of the country's National Intelligence, Avril Haines, said China and Russia continued to be a world threat. She said China was a direct challenger to the U.S. as it tried to "revise global norms" to favor its "authoritarian Chinese system." Haines said Russia has continued with efforts to undermine U.S. influence overseas, particularly in the Middle East.
Cybersecurity company Mandiant announced Thursday it had discovered a series of hacks against U.S. targets which it believed were perpetrated by the Chinese. The attacks follow several others perpetrated by groups from Russia and China. In January, the U.S. government accused Russia of being involved in the hacking of Texas software company SolarWinds.
Last year, the director-general of Britain's domestic counterintelligence and security agency known as MI5, Ken McCallum, characterized Russia and China to be completely two different types of threats. The head of the U.K.'s homeland security branch said Russia will be like a "burst of bad weather," while China will be a "change in the climate."
