At the ongoing G8 Summit in Ireland, both U.S. and Russia have agreed to install a “cyber-hotline” which will be used to prevent an accidental cyber-war between these two global superpowers. A joint statement issued by President Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin said both countries recognize that threats “to or in the use of ICT (information and computer technologies) include political, military and criminal threats as well as threats of a terrorist nature.” It is in response to those threats that both countries are working together to “increase transparency and reduce the possibility that a misunderstood cyber incident could create instability or a crisis” in the bilateral relationship, this according to a White House spokesperson.
The White House has said that there will be a “direct secure voice communications line” connecting US cybersecurity coordinator and Russian deputy secretary of the security council, should need arise of diffusing a crisis situation that is related to ICT security, as long as threats originate from either country. This reminds me of the “hotline” that U.S. and Kremlin had back in the days of the Cold War to prevent a nuclear war.
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