US, China agree to guidelines for requesting cybercrime assistance

China claims to have arrested the hackers responsible for the gargantuan theft of personal information through the Office of Personnel Management breach and is asserting that the hack was a criminal rather than a state-sponsored act.

The meeting of Chinese and US officials, chaired by US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and China’s State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun, was the first “High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues” mentioned in the September accord.

Despite an uneasy relationship over mutual cyber espionage allegations, the United States and China have reached an agreement on fighting cyber crime.

Officials in the US are skeptical of the legitimacy of the arrests.

In fact, China and the USA have recently set up a space hotline to avoid incidents in orbit, according to The Financial Times.

China vehemently objected to the May 1, 2014, indictment of five People’s Liberation Army hackers for their role in conducting cyber attacks on USA companies in Pennsylvania.

US officials speaking on condition of anonymity said this week China had made a handful of arrests in connection with the breach before Mr. Xi’s September visit, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Both parties praised the talks, with Chinese officials stating that the results of them would have a “major impact”, on the world’s digital security measures (as per Reuters).

Both countries would meet again in Beijing next June for the second cybersecurity ministerial talk. Beijing is known to scrutinize visa applications of people with US ties, based on travel patterns and other data. Amongst the U.S.’ topmost concerns is the Ministry of State Security, a state-run security and intelligence agency.

The BoM supercomputer contains a lot of research, but could be viewed as a potential gateway to a host of government agencies that have even more sensitive information.

However, well-placed sources said they believed it was a legitimate intelligence target and a government-sponsored intrusion.

In his remarks to the meeting, Guo noted that China and the US have shared interests in protecting cyber security, and they can absolutely turn the differences into bright spots for bilateral cooperation. Ken Westin of Tripwire, a security software agency, says, “There will be no cybersecurity deal, due to a number of factors”.

This development is seen as something of a watershed moment, as the USA has been particularly wary of China’s covert cyber activities.