FBI Director James Comey said today he has seen some improvement in cooperation from China in fighting cybercrime following last year's bilateral agreement on the issue.
Chinese authorities "seem to have an agreed upon framework for what is nation-state action appropriate, that is intelligence collection, and what is theft," Comey told a cybersecurity event in Washington, when asked about international cooperation on cybercrime.
"There are signs of progress in the Chinese helping us impose costs on active engagement and theft. I'm reasonably optimistic (about China), less so with Russia."
Comey's comments were far more upbeat than those from National Security Agency chief Michael Rogers earlier this month on the implementation of last year's accord between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The two leaders agreed on principles aimed at stemming what has been seen as a wave of hacking directed against US companies and organizations.
Rogers told Congress earlier this month that Chinese hackers remain "engaged in activity directed against US companies" and that the "jury is still out" on whether China indeed passes intel to the business world.
Comey, speaking at the Georgetown International Conference on Cyber Engagement, said the FBI was ramping up its ability to combat hacking and cybercrime.
"We think we have to be more predictive and less reactive," he said.
Part of this strategy, he said involves "naming people and shaming them" to demonstrate costs of hacking into US computer systems.
The FBI, he said, wants to "make people feel our breath on the back of their neck --- physically ideally, but metaphorically" to deter hacking.
Comey also reiterated concerns about the impact of strong encryption in the wake of the legal battle over access to the iPhone used by a California attacker.
"I'm very glad that the litigation between the FBI and Apple on San Bernardino has ended, because it really was about getting access to that phone," Comey said, referring to the court case in which the FBI sought to compel Apple to help unlock the phone used by one of the shooters in last year's deadly attack.
But Comey said it was still important to have a discussion on the topic because "there is a collision going on between values of all shades between privacy and security.
