China and Russia possess cyber technologies they will increasingly unleash on U.S. companies, the military, election systems and critical infrastructure, and that poses a significant threat to national security, Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence panel in an annual hearing called the Worldwide Threat Assessment.

“At present, China and Russia pose the greatest espionage and cyberattack threats,” but other countries are catching up, the director of National Intelligence told the committee Tuesday.

North Korea and Iran have such capabilities too, and all these adversaries “threaten both minds and machines in an expanding number of ways — to steal information, to influence our citizens, or to disrupt critical infrastructure,” Coats said. North Korea poses cyber threats to financial institutions around the world, he said.

Top lawmakers also highlighted the threats posed by advanced internet-enabled technologies that often outstrip dangers from conventional and nuclear weapons.

Emerging threats will come from “deep-fakes, artificial intelligence, and a 5G enabled Internet of Things with billions of internet-connected consumer devices,” said Sen. Richard M. Burr, the chairman of the committee. Elections and countries can be attacked without using bombs and missiles, Burr said, noting that a social media account that any “13-year-old can establish for free” can be just as effective.