Day After Cyber Agreement: China Attacks

Day After Cyber Agreement: China Attacks

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

Last month President Barack Obama said that the U.S. would be “watching closely” to see if “words are followed by actions” after he and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced they reached an agreement regarding cyberattacks.

The next day a cyberattack by the Chinese was observed and thwarted, claims a cybersecurity firm. California-based company, CrowdStrike, said Chinese hacking attempts on American corporate intellectual property have occurred with regularity over the past three weeks, suggesting that China almost immediately began violating its cyberagreement with the United States.

CrowdStrike, which employs former FBI and National Security Agency cyberexperts, said it documented seven Chinese cyberattacks against U.S. technology and pharmaceuticals companies. “We’ve seen no change in behavior,” said Dmitri Alperovich, a founder of CrowdStrike. The company said that on Sept. 26, the day after Obama announced that he had expressed “our concerns about growing cyberthreats” to Xi and “indicated that it has to stop,” it observed an intrusion from “China-affiliated actors.”

The company said it stopped this attack and none of its customer’s data was taken, but the fact that this attack occurred “highlights the need to remain vigilant despite the newly minted Cyber agreement.”

A senior Obama administration official, remaining anonymous, said American officials are aware of the report but would not comment on its conclusions. The official did not dispute them but could not refer to the matter publicly.

The U.S.-China agreement forged last month does not prohibit cyberspying for national security purposes, but it bans economic espionage designed to steal trade secrets for the benefit of competitors.

Subscribe to our newsletter.