China Still Successfully Hacking US, But Less

Successful cyberattacks by China hacker groups targeting corporate networks in the US and other regions have dramatically decreased since mid-2014, a new report finds. Even so, China continues to wage attacks in order to steal intellectual property despite political pressure by the US government -- and China's cyber espionage campaigns appear to be more streamlined.

So in case you were wondering whether the historic “no-hack” pact in September 2015 between President Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping -- where the two leaders promised not to wage cyberattacks for economic gain -- has made a difference, the answer is both yes and no. While no one expected major change in the wake of the pact, there have been some noticeable shifts in the volume of attacks by China in the past couple of years, according to new findings from FireEye. The pact is one of several factors, including earlier political and economic forces that were already under way beforehand, according to FireEye.