Compare cybersecurity risks in the U.S. and another country.

Cybersecurity risks are not only prevalent in the United States. In almost all developed countries today there are different cybersecurity risks. China, one of the most powerful nations and a major competitor of the United States, is a country that also has many cyber risks.

One way that China and the United States are similar in a cybersecurity risk standpoint is the fact that both are at the top of the list of top spam sending countries. Spam is a risk for both since it can lead to large scale money loss. For example, an article states that, “Loss of human resources due to the nuisance of spam was estimated to be at $22 billion in 2004” (Lachhwani & Ghose, 2012). Since spam is so big in both countries this shows that there is great risk for money loss as well as being exposed to malware.

A way that these countries differ from a cybersecurity risk standpoint is that China is on the list as a top country to host botnets while the United States is not. A botnet is basically just a group of malware-infected machines that a cyber criminal can control over the internet (Kigerl, 2016). This is very important because it is understood that about three fourths of all spam is sent from botnets.

One way the United States is more at risk than China is because of phishing. Phishing is when a hacker pretends to be a trusted person in order to gain access to passwords, usernames, social security numbers, etc. The United States is the most targeted country for phishing attacks. It is so bad that the United States suffers “60% of worldwide phishing volumes” (RSA, 2014). No other country comes even close to these numbers.

In conclusion, both the United States and China have cybersecurity risks. These risks are similar in some ways and different in others. It is important to understand that since both are world superpowers, they are likely to have high amounts of risk when it comes to cyber crimes.