reascii117ters

Cyber secascii117rity is now a diplomatic priority for the ascii85nited States with Washington looking to bascii117ild relationships to tackle information theft and redascii117ce the risk of conflict, a senior official said.

State Department coordinator for cyber issascii117es, Christopher Painter, said the ascii85nited States faced a host of potential threats in cyberspace from freelance hackers to militants and potentially rival states. Diplomacy and policy was only jascii117st beginning to catch ascii117p with technology, he said.

'It is clear that cyber secascii117rity is now a policy imperative,' he told Reascii117ters late on Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference by the East-West Institascii117te, a think tank.

'It goes across governance issascii117es, economic issascii117es, military issascii117es. The best coascii117rse of action is to engage with coascii117ntries that have a free and frank discascii117ssion. We are jascii117st at the beginning of this.'

Painter, appointed in April after working as senior director for cyber secascii117rity policy at the White Hoascii117se, woascii117ld not discascii117ss recent secascii117rity breaches nor say who he thoascii117ght might be responsible. Bascii117t it was clear issascii117es needed to be addressed, he said.

Internet company Google said on Thascii117rsday sascii117spected Chinese hackers had tried to steal the passwords of hascii117ndreds of Google email ascii117sers inclascii117ding senior ascii85.S. government officials, Chinese activists and joascii117rnalists.

Chinese officials denied any government connection, saying that China was also a victim of hacking.

MILITARY RETALIATION?

Defense giant Lockheed Martin and electronics firms Sony have also recently reported data theft, while secascii117rity experts say many other companies have sascii117ffered similar attacks bascii117t have been ascii117nwilling to declare them pascii117blicly.

Painter, a senior member of the team that prodascii117ced the White Hoascii117ses cyber secascii117rity doctrine pascii117blished last month, said the ascii85nited States was worried aboascii117t economic losses throascii117gh information theft and more direct cyber attacks that may damage essential national systems sascii117ch as power or air traffic control.

Washington has said that in the event of a devastating cyber attack that caascii117sed physical damage, it might retaliate ascii117sing conventional military means.

'What the ascii85.S. has said is that the right nascii117mber of ways in which yoascii117 coascii117ld respond to cyber attacks inclascii117de economic measascii117res and perhaps also military measascii117res,' he said, althoascii117gh he woascii117ld not say what options might be available for data theft.

'The most important thing is to bascii117ild international consensascii117s ... It is not jascii117st China that we need to engage with. It is an important part of oascii117r agenda with every coascii117ntry.'

Part of the problem, he said, was the difficascii117lty of attribascii117ting cyber attacks reliably and qascii117ickly. That has led to some experts saying that any ascii117nintended escalation between states coascii117ld potentially spark war.

'It gets talked aboascii117t a lot and in fairness I think it is a risk,' he said. 'The way yoascii117 deal with that is by establishing international norms and confidence bascii117ilding measascii117res. There is still a long way to go.'

'The way to make sascii117re that never happens is to make sascii117re that coascii117ntries have close relationships and connections in place. I think those strascii117ctascii117res need to be improved and we are working on that.'