US acuses China of violating anti-hacking arrangement – Reuters

As reported by Reuters, a US intelligence official has accused China of violating a bilateral agreement between the two nations to avoid ‘hacking’ of government and corporate data.

Key quotes

“When asked if China was violating the 2015 agreement between then President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, National Security Agency official Rob Joyce said: “We think they are.”

“While it’s not black and white, (China) met the agreement or they didn’t meet the agreement, it’s clear that they are well beyond the bounds today of the agreement that was forged between our countries,” Joyce said.

In September 2015, Obama announced he had reached a “common understanding” with China’s Xi on curbing economic cyber espionage, but threatened to impose U.S. sanctions on Chinese hackers who persist in committing cyber crimes.

The agreement, however, stopped short of any promise to refrain from traditional government-to-government cyber spying for intelligence purposes.

That could include the massive hack of the U.S. federal government’s personnel office this year that compromised the data of more than 20 million people. U.S. officials have traced that back to China, but have not said whether they believe the Chinese government was responsible.”