Ride the Lightning

U.S. and China Reach Cybersecurity Agreement – Sort Of

June 30, 2015

SC Magazine reported that, after years of trading hacking charges, China and the U.S. reached an accord on cybersecurity – sort of. As everyone knows, the U.S. has claimed that China was responsible for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breaches.

Recently, there was a three-day U.S./China Strategic and Economic Dialogue where delegates from the two countries covered topics likely to affect future collaboration and relations.

Though details of a specific code of conduct were not released, and it did not appear on a 127-item outcomes list, both China's Vice Premier Wang Yang and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the fifth round of the meeting's Strategic Security Dialogue pledged to cooperate on cybersecurity measures.

Kerry told members of the press that “there was not a direct kind of confrontational pushback” on cybersecurity during the talks. Instead, the two countries orchestrated what Kerry called for “an honest discussion,” minus finger-pointing and accusations “about the problem of cyber theft and whether or not it was sanctioned by government or whether it was hackers and individuals that the government has the ability to prosecute.”

The Secretary of State said the U.S. made it “crystal clear” that that type of activity is “not acceptable,” but noted that “China also has a very clear interest in making certain that everybody is behaving by a certain set of standards.”

Kerry refused to comment on the OPM breach because the incident is still being investigated by the FBI “and we have not come out with specific statements from the government.”

Do you see an "agreement" in any of this? It is clear as mud to me.

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