Washington Post reported on Thursday that Google, the world biggest Internet search firm is finalizing a deal with National Security Agency that would help to investigate a corporate espionage attack that may have originated in China. The aim of the investigation is to better defend Google, the world's largest Internet search company, and its users from future attacks by introducing better network security. The newspaper reported, the focus of the cooperative venture would not be to determine who was behind the attacks. That would be nearly impossible. Instead the aim is to build a better defense of Google's networks, or what technicians call "information assurances”.

The sources said Google is going to paired up with the National Security Agency  (NSA),  the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization -- would be designed to enable them to share critical information without violating Google's policies or laws that protect the privacy online communications. Google come to this new agreement just less than a month after Google took the unusual step on January 12 of announcing that it had been hit by sophisticated cyber attacks in mid-December and that it was reviewing its business operations in China. On January 12 Google mentioned the cyber attacks targeted Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists and an investigation found at least 20 other large companies had been targeted by cyber attacks. Google approached the NSA just after the found the cyber attack on their Gmail account but it has taken weeks to reach an agreement because of the sensitive nature of information-sharing between the two sides.

The Security Agency’s spoke man didn’t want to disclose about the partnership and mentioned, "NSA is not able to comment on specific relationships we may or may not have with U.S. companies, NSA works with a broad range of commercial partners and research associates" on security solutions for the Defense Department and other customers and on "cutting-edge technologies that will secure the information systems of tomorrow."

The newspaper's sources said, under this new arrangement, the NSA would not be viewing user searches or e-mail accounts, the Washington Post said. Also Google would not be sharing proprietary data with the NSA.

A partnership between the search giant of the Internet and the NSA taps on the sensitive issue of how to balance individual privacy and national security online.

Source: Reuters
Key words: cyber security, network security, national security, Google, security system monitors, information security, security data, security internet