China and Korea have hardcore hackers who are willing to do anything and showcase their skills in codes. Police were forced to arrest Chinese hackers after US government gave out a list of cybercrime suspects. The hackers allegedly stole research and development information from several US firms.
Recently, the Chinese president held talks with President Obama about cyber security. In addition, China published their cyber security law that is supposed to tighten cyber security. Ironically, the moves made things worse. Chinese hackers have decided to gang several US firms. BBC reports the stolen trade secrets and plans were passed to Chinese firms that are rivals of the US businesses which were hit. Some of the recipients are believed to be state-run organisations.
The subject of cyber spying and hacking featured in the talks between Mr Xi and President Obama. During the talks the two nations are believed to have negotiated an understanding that China would move to stop attacks on US businesses. Trade sanctions had been threatened if China had not agreed to act.
China has skilled hackers that always hide their paths, and that has made it hard for relevant authorities to track them down. Apparently, the reported arrests are believed to be some of the first China has carried out at the request of the US.
Susan Rice, US national security advisor, recently said that these attacks put enormous strain on diplomatic relations between the two nations.
US Government didn’t like the way China was handling their cyber security. Initially, President Obama placed sanction threats on China. The US demanded to see proof that China was serious about punishing hackers. So, US intelligence and law enforcement agencies reportedly sent a list of adversaries and China’s government had the hackers arrested.
“Recent diplomatic efforts by the Obama administration finally put some pressure on the Chinese to act or risk trade sanctions something they definitely don’t want,” Internet security expert, Mr Polancich said. “It’s too soon to tell if the actions by the Chinese government are a hand-wave or the start of real progress toward a cyber cool-down.”
“I can’t imagine China providing any serious level of attribution, even if they wanted to do so,” Polancich added. “For China to admit anything or divulge much information on specific actors inside their borders beyond a few diplomatically compliant morsels can’t be expected any more than they’d expect us to do so. They know they’re hitting us, we know they’re hitting us, but there’s very little we can do about it.”
