The US and China has had a turbulent history, especially when it comes to cyber and hacking issues. It’s been one accusation and one incident after another. Now, the US and China make a cyber deal.
Both governments are negotiating a modern day arms race deal. But instead of traditional military weapons, this arms deal has to do with computer hacking. The US and China formally promise each other not to take each other’s government down by cyber attacks or hacking. These intense negotiations have been going on for weeks, just in time for Chinese President Xi Jimping’ visit?later this week. Not to mention the United Nations are having their 70th general assembly at this time. Yes, the UN is expected to address cyber security, especially when it comes to international security. One UN principal is that no nation shall engage in activities, “that intentionally damages critical infrastructure or otherwise impairs the use and operation of critical infrastructure to provide services to the public.” US officials want China to embrace such principals. Most attacks have been about theft and ID hacking, like the 22 million Office of Personal Management files that were compromised.
There’s been other attacks too, though China has either denied or played off. I’m still wondering if they had anything to do with the infamous Sony Pictures hacking of December 2014. The more I read into this, the more this reads like a lecture from the US and UN to China. This almost sounds like they’re wagging their finger and telling China, “This is bad. You should be ashamed. Don’t let me catch you doing this anymore.” But history shows us this has happened before. How many times has the opponent said, “Okay. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” only to have all hell break loose? Will China honor this UN code and US deal? Come to think of it, will the US honor this UN code and this potential deal?