US Considering Economic Sanctions on China After Cyber Attack

September 1, 2015 at 1:34 pm By

The investigation behind the alleged Chinese hackers who performed a slew of data breaches on the U.S. may have gone on long enough. The U.S. is now considering hitting China with economic sanctions as a mode of getting back at companies who benefitted from the data breach.

“In particular, the sanctions would be ‘against Chinese companies and individuals who have benefited from their government’s cybertheft of valuable US trade secrets,’ theΒ Post reported,” according to CNET.

“It quoted an administration official as saying the possible sanctions move ‘sends a signal to Beijing that the administration is going to start fighting back on economic espionage, and it sends a signal to the private sector that we’re on your team. It tells China, enough is enough.'”

Of course the possible repercussion for China hasn’t been concretely decided but according to the report, a decision could be coming in as little as two weeks time. The fingering pointing continues to wage on as the U.S., China and Russia continue to blame each other for cyber-espionage.Β 

“The relationship between the the US and China over cybersecurity concerns has been especially rocky,” said Paula Vasan of CNET.

“I think these possible sanctions are going to affect our relationship with China long term … the problem of cyberattacks is just getting worse,” said Scott Schober, cybersecurity expert and CEO at New Jersey-based Berkeley Varitronics Systems — a company that sells wireless cyberthreat detection tools to US Department of Defense agencies, according to Vasan’s report.

The ongoing cyberwarfare and finger pointing between countries is causing many government employees to have their personal information become casualties. It’s hard to tell whether or not economic sanctions will be suitable as well as accepted by the Chinese government.

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