China has been stealing $57 billion of U.S. IP for years and is also said to have hacked over 20 million highly sensitive records of the Office of Personnel management – giving them access to the most sensitive information on the top officials in the U.S. This includes military, secret service, politicians, etc.

Russia is said to be responsible for over $10 billion in corporate damage due to a single NotPetya hack. They have also successfully penetrated the U.S. electric grid.

These two countries are looking to write the United nations cybersecurity policy.

Less than one-percent of hacks see an arrest and many of the hacks in the world come from these two countries. If they control the laws, they will likely protect their own citizens from criminal prosecution.

During last year’s General Assembly proceedings, a resolution on cybercrime pushed by Russia with support from China passed by a vote of 94 to 59 with 33 abstentions according to Allison Peters at foreignpolicy.com.

The bottom line is the U.S. needs to wake up and realize as the largest target of cybercrime. The cost of cyberattacks has been over $1.6 trillion over the last decade.

This is a massive drag on the U.S. economy – it reduces money which could be used to improve supply chains, pay workers more and invest in the ongoing growth of the U.S. economy.

The success of any nation is tied to its economic strength. We can see vivid examples of how countries unravel when their economies are weak by looking at Argentina and Venezuela among others.

The Trump White House has to take these threats very seriously. To the extent the U.N means anything – it is important to push back against countries who want to protect their visions of closed-internet police-states where citizens can hack outside their borders at will

In the meantime, companies must realize the government is not a white night coming to their defense. They need to defend themselves. This list of cybersecurity essentials is a great starting point.