Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on Thursday said Russia is using cyberspace to target the U.S. and its allies. Speaking to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Coats called the Eurasian country a threat to American government, military, diplomatic and business infrastructure.Russia is undisputedly at the forefront of cybercrime. According to Interpol findings from 2015, eastern European hackers are among the most advanced in the world. Additionally, at least one-third of malicious software, viruses and Trojan attacks originate in Russia. What makes the country such a formidable force?"It's a combination of a technology-educated population, an economic crisis, and a government that looks the other way," Einaras Gravrock, CEO of cybersecurity company CUJO told us Friday. "Russians seem to crack down on cybercriminals targeting local citizens, but they rarely, if ever, extradite those sought by the U.S."Hackers are especially tricky to prosecute - illegal online campaigns can infiltrate networks from thousands of miles away. The conflicting locations of the perpetrator and the crime committed muddle the boundaries of legal jurisdiction."What's unique is that they are able to export crime over to us," Gravrock said. "Other than the illegal drug industry and pirating, how many other crimes originating in a foreign country can directly affect us here in the U.S.?"Law officials in March revealed that two Russian intelligence officers and two hackers were charged with a 2014 Yahoo data breach that impacted at least 500 million users. The hack targeted the accounts of Russian and U.S. officials, Russian journalists, and employees of financial services and other businesses, according to the Department of Justice.Can the U.S protect itself from advanced cyberattacks?"We need a cyber FBI that has the mandate to counter attack and help U.S.-based security companies to act quickly," Gravrock explained. "Imagine if such an agency would, in real-time, share threat intelligence with the security community. Several agencies already do that to an extent, but nobody 'owns' the problem in the government."The problem isn't limited to Russia - cybercrime is now a global phenomenon. A report from Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that overall financial losses from online crime will reach more than $6 trillion annually in three years. In 2015, it was just $3 trillion.But the supply has yet to meet the demand - there simply aren't enough people choosing careers in cybersecurity. In 2014, nearly 50,000 open positions in the U.S. required CISSP (certified information systems security professional) certification. At the time, there were only 65,362 CISSP-certified people in the U.S., and many of them were already employed."It's a fairly new problem that requires new solutions. In the recent past, our only connected device was a PC. It was much easier for both individuals and companies to protect themselves," Gravrock said. "Now that a thermostat can be hacked to steal home user data or to penetrate a factory, mainstream is realizing that old methods are insufficient."