Apple Online Store“The world’s largest Internet search company and the world’s most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity,” Ellen Nakashima reports for The Washington Post.

“Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter,” Nakashima reports. “The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack.”

“Google and the NSA declined to comment on the partnership. But sources with knowledge of the arrangement, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the alliance is being designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information without violating Google’s policies or laws that protect the privacy of Americans’ online communications,” Nakashima reports. “The sources said the deal does not mean the NSA will be viewing users’ searches or e-mail accounts or that Google will be sharing proprietary data.”

Nakashima reports, “The partnership strikes at the core of one of the most sensitive issues for the government and private industry in the evolving world of cybersecurity: how to balance privacy and national security interests.”

Full article here.