Here’s how the U.S. wants to confront foreign (Chinese) cyber theft

A week after releasing its cyber security executive order, the White House today unveiled its strategy to fight back against the wave of intellectual property (IP) theft facilitated by cyber espionage that has hit U.S. businesses in recent years. The Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets calls for: increased diplomatic efforts ...

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Getty Images
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A week after releasing its cyber security executive order, the White House today unveiled its strategy to fight back against the wave of intellectual property (IP) theft facilitated by cyber espionage that has hit U.S. businesses in recent years.

A week after releasing its cyber security executive order, the White House today unveiled its strategy to fight back against the wave of intellectual property (IP) theft facilitated by cyber espionage that has hit U.S. businesses in recent years.

The Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets calls for: increased diplomatic efforts to confront nations hosting IP thieves and increased collaboration between governments on combating IP theft; the promotion of voluntary best practices by businesses to protect their trade secrets; "enhanced" domestic law enforcement operations; improved domestic legislation; and increased "public awareness and stakeholder outreach."

The document also includes a number of anecdotes about China-based thieves stealing U.S. intellectual property.

One of the key elements of the strategy is the plan to increase prosecution of people caught stealing U.S. trade secrets. The administration also wants to increase information sharing between the Intelligence Community and the private sector on foreign efforts to steal trade secrets, including the type of info being sought and the techniques being used. The strategy also notes that the shift toward cloud and mobile computing will likely increase the threat of cyber espionage.

Included in the document’s list of likely espionage targets are a wide range of industries from defense contractors to IT firms and clean energy companies.

The White House’s 141-page strategy document was released one day after cyber security firm Mandiant published a report detailing the exploits of a Chinese military unit involved in widespread cyber theft and espionage against U.S. businesses.

Just last week, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House intelligence committee, called for the U.S. do more in confronting China on its massive cyber espionage campaign against American businesses.

Here’s the strategy:

 

Admin Strategy to Mitigate the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets – Embargo by

John Reed is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy. He comes to FP after editing Military.com’s publication Defense Tech and working as the associate editor of DoDBuzz. Between 2007 and 2010, he covered major trends in military aviation and the defense industry around the world for Defense News and Inside the Air Force. Before moving to Washington in August 2007, Reed worked in corporate sales and business development for a Swedish IT firm, The Meltwater Group in Mountain View CA, and Philadelphia, PA. Prior to that, he worked as a reporter at the Tracy Press and the Scotts Valley Press-Banner newspapers in California. His first story as a professional reporter involved chasing escaped emus around California’s central valley with Mexican cowboys armed with lassos and local police armed with shotguns. Luckily for the giant birds, the cowboys caught them first and the emus were ok. A New England native, Reed graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a dual degree in international affairs and history.

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