Analyst's note:  No real surprise with this warning from a new national intelligence director's report to Congress states China and Russia are in fact the biggest backers of economic espionage through the Internet.

[....] The report, Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace, also warns that the efforts to calculate the cost of lost research and development is nearly impossible to calculate but could be costing up to $398 billion. As mobile devices proliferate, it's only going to get easier for spies to steal.

Analysts note that this is the first time the U.S. government report has so openly blamed countries that support cyber attacks and espionage at the national and state level.

[....] The report also warns that countries could take advantage of political or social activists who may use the tools of economic espionage against U.S. companies and agencies. It specifically called out "hactivist" groups like WikiLeaks and other "disgruntled insiders leaking information about corporate trade secrets or critical U.S. technology." [....]