U.S.-China cybersecurity meetings have Silicon Valley anxious

When President Barack Obama begins two days of meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Southern California on June 7, in part to discuss China's alleged computer thefts of some of this nation's most sensitive secrets, many Silicon Valley businesses will be monitoring the talks with intense interest.

This area is widely considered a key battleground in the country's war on cybercrime, and while skeptical of the meeting's outcome, many Silicon Valley executives hope Obama will win concessions from Xi to help halt the attacks. In recent years, tech companies here have been targeted by hackers, and reports that some of the computerized break-ins have been directed by Chinese authorities has corporate officials throughout Silicon Valley worried.

"They are freaking out," said Patrick Peterson, CEO of Palo Alto-based Agari, one of the legions of security companies in the region that offer software and other products to deter hackers. "It's a flaming-hot issue, which has the industry extremely concerned all the way up to the board level."

The meetings are likely to cover a variety of topics, ranging from economic issues to the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons. But White House officials say cybersecurity will be a major focus, and they expect the two nations to form a working group to begin wrestling with the problem in detail in July.