Information security

Commercial spying or state espionage?

It is hailed as a significant diplomatic breakthrough: The recently concluded deal between the presidents of China and the United States to limit cyber espionage and cybercrime is a crucial initial step in easing the mounting tensions over cyber security between the world's two largest economies.

But unless the deal is swiftly followed by a more comprehensive and global agreement on online activities between states, the ultimate impact of the recent US-China accord may actually be negative; all that the document has provided Beijing and Washington is a brief respite and a small diplomatic opportunity to avert a far bigger showdown over cyber-security matters.