How to Stop the US-China Cyberwar
What’s the Latest Development?
Chinese hackers have resumed activities—breaking into electronic records kept by government and private business—after a three-month hiatus, say officials. “Despite Beijing’s denials, there is little doubt that Chinese hackers have taken aim at a range of government and private systems in the United States, including the power grid and telecommunications networks.” According to a report released by the government last week, hacking costs the American economy $300 billion a year and China was responsible for 70 percent of the theft of corporate intellectual property and trade secrets.
What’s the Big Idea?
While there has been some talk of the Chinese hacking the American military, most of the dialogue surrounds private-sector theft: Negotiation strategies, new product blueprints, and the like. The report, named the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property and led by the former American ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman Jr., has called the American response to Chinese activities “utterly inadequate”. The group has proposed “stronger ways to deter Chinese hacking, like possibly allowing companies to retaliate against attackers with their own counterstrikes.”
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