China, US in talks to swear off cyberspace first strikes, sources say

China and the United States are currently negotiating a cyberspace arms control accord that could commit each country to forswear a first strike that could cripple the other’s critical infrastructure during peacetime, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials involved in the talks. Such an agreement would not, at least in its first version, protect against most of the attacks US officials have in recent months blamed on China, including theft of intellectual property and millions of government employees’ personal data. One senior official cautioned any initial statement may only include a “generic embrace” of a cyberspace code of conduct recently adopted by a United Nations working group.