The U.S. government this week lifted the lid slightly on its mostly secret policies on cybersecurity and cyberthreats, as the Obama administration grapples with the growing problem of cyberwarfare attacks and computer-based spying.
President Obama two years ago rejected a series of tough actions against China, including counter-cyber attacks and economic sanctions, for Beijing's aggressive campaign of cyber espionage against the U.S. government and private businesses networks, according to administration officials.
National security officials in the military and at the Pentagon are voicing growing worries that the second Obama administration is preparing to jettison the new policy focus on Asia known as the "pivot" or rebalancing.
Investors brushed off early jitters about a potential slowdown in China and pushed the Dow to its highest close of the year.
The mysterious death by hanging of a 31-year-old U.S. citizen in Singapore has his family asking questions over what it has described as the many discrepancies in how, where and why the young electrical engineer died, and has raised questions for authorities in two countries.
Beijing hotly denies accusations of official involvement in massive cyberattacks against foreign targets, insinuating such activity is the work of rogues. But at least one piece of evidence cited by experts points to professional cyberspies: China's hackers don't work weekends.
Chinese government denials of military hacking against the United States have sparked controversy in China from the political left and right.
With nations trading charges of high-level cyberespionage, security specialists are warning that there are a whole host of reasons why hackers may target their computers and smartphones.
The Obama administration announced new efforts Wednesday to fight the growing theft of American trade secrets, a broad but relatively restrained response to a rapidly emerging global problem that was brought into sharp focus this week by fresh evidence linking cyberstealing to China's military.
