Cybercrime is 'orders of magnitude' larger than state-backed ops, says ex-White House advisor

[justaprogressive]

Uncle Sam's cybersecurity apparatus can't only focus on China and other nation-state actors, but also has to fight the much bigger damage from plain old cybercrime, says former White House advisor Michael Daniel. And the Trump administration's steep cuts to federal government staff are making that a lot harder.

Daniel currently leads the Cyber Threat Alliance, a nonprofit threat-intel-sharing organization. Before he took that role, he served as special assistant to President Obama and cybersecurity coordinator on the National Security Council staff between 2012 and 2017.

He agrees that China poses the single greatest threat we face in cyberspace, surpassing the Russians. But they're far from the only threat.

"And certainly, a country like the United States with the scope and scale of our national interest, our economic interests, our public health and safety - we've got to be able to do the equivalent of walk and chew gum at the same time," he continued.

"We've got to be able to focus on and have capacity for more than one adversary. We cannot take our eyes off, or should not take our eyes off, Russia, Iran, North Korea, or the large number of cyber criminal organizations that are out there," Daniel told The Register.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/24/cyber_crime_bigger_than_nation_state/

[Celerity]

1. Trump loves cybercrime that he can benefit from.