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“United States defense-related technologies and information are under attack: each day, every hour, and from multiple sources. The attack is pervasive, relentless, and unfortunately, at times successful,” writes Kathleen Watson, director of DSS. “As a result, the United States’ technical lead, competitive edge, and strategic military advantage are at risk; and our national security interests could be compromised.”

Attempts to gather intelligence information were traced to over half of the countries in the world. After East Asia and the Pacific, the Near East and Europe and Eurasia were of greatest counterintelligence concern. Despite their overall decline, “European and Eurasian cyber actors remain some of the most active targeters of United States technology.”

“Facilitated by ever increasing world wide connectivity, the ease of inundating industry with overt email requests and webpage submissions made direct requests a premier vehicle for solicitation and/or collection,” the report states. “While not all direct requests for information or services represent organized collection attempts, exploitation of this medium provides collectors an efficient, low-cost, high-gain opportunity to acquire classified or restricted information.”