Thursday, November 12, 2015

US-China No-Hack Pact: Good, or Better Than Nothing?

September saw a historic agreement between the US and China prohibiting cyber espionage for economic gain — stealing trade secrets and intellectual property. But how will it work out in practice?

In the worst-case scenario, China will pay lip service to the agreement while turning a blind eye to, or continuing to sponsor, attempts to steal US IP, says Kevin Mandia, president of leading network security firm FireEye. However, he believes it's more likely that China will scale back its participation in cyber spying attacks on US companies, and may even put a stop to it entirely — especially since the US is likely to start fining Chinese companies for it.

In the end, Mandia predicts, the US and China will team up to battle cyber crime for the sake of a stronger global economy. And that makes the agreement better than no agreement.

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