Lynch, Johnson host third U.S.-China Dialogue on Cybercrime

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson hosted this week a coalition of Chinese government officials for the third U.S.-China High-level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues to discuss a range of topics related to international cybercrime or other malicious activities.

During the meeting, both sides endorsed the establishment of a dialogue mechanism for bilateral communication and enhanced cooperation on cybersecurity issues. The groups committed to collaboration in investigating cybercrime emanating from either China or the United States and to refrain from cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.

In regards to network protections, both sides plan to enhance network hygiene by promoting the cleaning and patching of malware infections in their respective networks, along with promoting best network protection practices. Further, the two sides will engage in regular reciprocal sharing of malicious IP addresses, malware samples, analytic products and related network protection information.

Both China and the U.S. acknowledged the misuse of technology and communications for facilitating violent acts of terrorism and opted to continue cooperation on information sharing in countering the use of the internet for terrorist or criminal purposes.