British Spy Chief: ‘Astonishing’ Cyber Espionage Threat from Foreign Governments

In a rare public speech, the head of Britain's domestic spy service said Monday that the West now faces an "astonishing" cyber espionage threat on an "industrial scale" from specific nation states.

"The extent of what is going on is astonishing," said Jonathan Evans, director general of MI5, "with industrial-scale processes involving many thousands of people lying behind both state-sponsored cyber espionage and organized cyber crime."

Though Evans did not name any countries, ABC News has separately learned from sources that the U.K., the U.S. and several European allies have a robust discussion underway on how to counter cyber espionage by perhaps the most significant state operator — China.

Evans' speech on potential security threats to the West, delivered to English financial executives, came just one month before the 2012 Summer Olympics begin in London.

"The Games present an attractive target for our enemies and they will be at the centre of the world's attention in a month or so," said Evans. "No doubt some terrorist networks have thought about whether they could pull off an attack."

While Osama Bin Laden may be dead, he said, "in back rooms and cars on the streets of this country there is no shortage of individuals talking about wanting to mount terror attacks here."

The U.K. has had 43 terror plots or incidents since 2001, authorities said, numbers that are similar to those in the U.S. All since 2005 have been thwarted and several had also been aimed at the U.S., including the recent "printer bomb plot."