Russia and the US link hands on Internet security
Internet security is a transnational issue which is why you see unlikely allies such as the US and Russia link hands and attempt to improve matters. How serious is the issue? Enough to have people taking notice of the more high profile attacks. Earlier this year, some of the plans for a new fighter aircraft being developed by the US, UK, Netherlands and Israel were stolen when hackers broke into American computers. Two years ago, it was revealed that hackers thought to be linked to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army had breached computer security systems at the Pentagon and Whitehall. There were also large-scale cyber-attacks during last year’s conflict between Russia and Georgia while the Estonian government was made impotent temporarily after an internet assault in 2007.
All of this has resulted in a series of secret meetings involving the US, Russia and the UN to develop broad countermeasures. There are still issues though with none of the parties overly keen to document their systems and share them, but much like the discussions on mutual nuclear disarmament these meetings mark how serious the concerns are and shows a least a temporary thawing in the Russia-US relationship
American officials have been holding secret talks with Russia and the United Nations in an attempt to strengthen internet security and rein in the growing threat of cyberwarfare.
The effort, first reported in the New York Times, is a virtual version of the nuclear arms talks being held between the two nations in Geneva – but rather than focusing on bombs and missiles, the discussions are aimed at curbing the increasing level of attacks taking place online.
With a rising tide of strikes by hackers on major institutions – including banks, businesses, government agencies and the military – diplomats are attempting to forge an international consensus on how to deal with cybersecurity problems.
“Both sides are making positive noises,” James Lewis, a senior fellow at the centre for strategic and international studies and a cyber security expert, told the Guardian. “We've never seen that before.”
Russia and US in secret talks to fight net crime | Technology | The Guardian
