China and US to test cyberthreat defences
Two sides agree to five guidelines covering internet-based threats, including theft of secrets and network intrusions, Washington says
China and the US have reached an agreement on testing their responses to cybersecurity threats following the conclusion of high-level talks in Washington, the US Department of Justice has said.
The drill was one of five specific outcomes of the two-day meeting attended by Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun and US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, according to the department.
Experts cautioned however the agreement was only the start and significant hurdles remained.
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As part of the deal, the two sides will conduct a “tabletop exercise” next spring to test how they react to different types of internet threats. They will then consider whether to hold a seminar that China has put forward on combatting terrorists’ use of technology and communication, and a US-initiative for an expert exchange on network protection.
Other guidelines dealt with cooperation in fighting the exploitation of children through the internet and theft of secrets, as well as joint agency efforts in network protection. Experts in that area from both sides were due to meet soon, the department said.
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Cooperation over cybersecurity had stalled since last year when Beijing suspended regular exchanges after the US charged five PLA officers with hacking. The next round of discussions will come in June, the department said.
Guo told Xinhua that China was committed to making collaboration on internet threats "the new highlight of US-Sino relations".
The statement from the department made no mention of a report from Xinhua this week that a security breach at the Office of Personnel Management was criminal, not state-sponsored. The hack was disclosed in June and dates to at least March of last year. .
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Beijing had arrested several people connected to the attack, which compromised data on more than 22 million federal workers, though people close to the US government told Reuters they believed it was a government-sponsored 8intrusion.
US officials have said they are unaware of any evidence demonstrating that the hacked data had been used for any nefarious purposes.
Chinese experts on Sino-US ties cautioned the guidelines were only the beginning of cooperation over one of the thorniest issues between the two nations.
“It’s a progress that Guo made the trip to the US,” said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China. “The two countries have had big conflicts [on this issue], and there are also technical difficulties and holes in related laws. This is just a starting point.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
