Story highlights The FBI over the past year has seen a 53% increase in economic espionage cases

The FBI continues to see spear phishing attempts

Washington (CNN) The FBI has seen a sharp rise in economic espionage cases aimed at U.S. companies, with a vast majority of the perpetrators originating from China with ties to the nation's government, authorities said Thursday.

At a briefing at the FBI's Washington headquarters, the head of the agency's counterintelligence division, Randall Coleman, said the bureau has seen a 53% increase in economic espionage cases, or the theft of trade secrets leading to the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars, over the past year. He cited examples of large corporations successfully targeted in the past such as DuPont, Lockheed Martin and Valspar, who have since worked with the bureau to further safeguard their intellectual property.

To highlight this growing threat to the U.S. economy, the FBI has launched a nationwide campaign intended to warn industry leaders of the danger they face from foreign actors. But the FBI not only considers this a threat to American economic prosperity, but to its physical security as well.

"Economic security is national security," said Bill Evanina, the head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and one of the agents leading the charge in stemming the threat to corporations. Many of the tools used are the same as the ones used to track terrorists, he said.

In a survey conducted by the FBI, half of the 165 private companies that participated have claimed to be victims of economic espionage or theft of trade secrets, and 95% of those attempts originated from individuals associated with the Chinese government.

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