The U.S. government has reversed its policy toward bolstering cybersecurity by initiating consultation with Russia, rather than the other way round. Officials familiar with the negotiations say the Obama administration understood that more countries are developing cyberweapons and that halting a global cyberweapons arms race required a new strategy. In November, a delegation led by a Russian Security Council member convened in Washington, D.C. with members of the U.S. National Security Council and the departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, and several weeks later the United States agreed to talk about cyberwarfare and cybersecurity with representatives of the United Nations committee on disarmament and international security. Russia has espoused the idea that an international pact is the best instrument for tackling the growing challenges posed by military operations to civilian computer networks, and people familiar with the discussions say the U.S.’s resistance to the concept has started to wear down. Viktor V. Sokolov with Russia’s Institute of Information Security says the latest round of discussions signals the opening of negotiations between the two powers on a possible cyberspace disarmament treaty. An anonymous U.S. State Department official says the United States has not resisted the idea of such a treaty, and that it is hoping to use the discussions to boost international cooperation in combating cybercrime. In contrast, the official says Russia has been pursuing the restriction of cyberweapons development. U.S. officials involved in the negotiations say that in addition to the cyberweapons ban, Russia is focusing on a prohibition against cyberterrorism, which they claim is an attempt to ban “politically destabilizing speech.”
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Tags: Internet, Russia, Security
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