Russia’s Kaspersky Labs signs deal with China Cyber Security Company as Beijing and Moscow call for end to US domination of internet

Russian software security giant Kaspersky Lab has formed a strategic partnership with a Chinese state-own company as Beijing and Moscow work more closely in policing their cyberspace.
The deal was signed on Wednesday at one of the panel meetings of China’s second World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province
Hours before the meeting, President Xi Jinping  gave a keynote speech stressing the need for a new set of global rules on the use of the internet and the importance of respecting cyber-sovereignty. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who also attended the event, supported Xi.
At the internet security panel meeting in the afternoon, Eugene Kaspersky – founder of the Russian software security giant that bears his name – signed a deal with the China Cyber Security Company. The two sides did not elaborate on the extent of their cooperation.
China and Russia are both accused by Western governments of sponsoring hacker attacks and organised cyberespionage. But experts from the two countries on Wednesday said they were in fact the biggest victims of cyber crimes.
They were also concerned that rapid advances in technology would make it increasingly difficult for states to control the flow of information, posing challenges to order and stability.
“Now all forms of crime can spread much faster and wider because of the internet. No country is totally safe,” said Liu Xinyun, chief of the Public Security Ministry’s cyber security department.
“The number of internet users in the developing world now accounts for more than half of the internet population. Four out of the top 10 internet firms are Chinese. Yet the basic rules and protocols of the internet are set and controlled by the US. We need new rules and new thinking to reflect the changing reality,” said a Chinese cybersecurity expert who declined to be named.
Zhao Wei, another cybersecurity expert and CEO of Beijing Known sec Information Technology, said China faced cyber attacks “every day”.
“The attacks are so sophisticated. We are totally defence less. I call it the ‘god mode’ attack,” said Zhao, without explaining who was behind the attacks. After the meeting, he said the attacker was a “state actor”.
Zhao said China needed to speed up research and play a part in establishing standards for the next generation of the internet.