Is the Specter of a 'Cyber Cold War' Real?

"How do I screen when hiring Chinese employees?"

I was asked that question the other day by a senior executive at one of America's most prominent tech companies who is worried about Chinese employees stealing the company's trade secrets. The epidemic of cyber-burglary and trade secret theft coming out of China is leading many technology and industrial multinationals to not only ask this question but to discuss avoiding hiring Chinese scientists, engineers and executives for key positions -- or at least determine ways to isolate them from core company systems. Some companies are already doing both of those things.

I was immediately and sadly reminded of the late-1990s Chinese spy mania in the U.S. ignited by then House Speaker Newt Gingrich's attempt to connect a scandal involving Clinton campaign contributions with accusations that American companies with ties to Clinton were sharing sensitive U.S. space technology with China. In the end, as is usual with Newt's political nonsense, the smoke led to barely a flicker of fire.

Read more at The Atlantic.

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