BRICS emerging economies to expand co-operation on internet security

Edward's Snowden's revelations about US cybersnooping appear to be pushing its rivals closer together as China and other major emerging economies agree to expand co-operation on internet security.

The consensus to emerge from a meeting of senior security officials from the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - shows a broad desire to carve out their own turf in cyberspace and reduce reliance on American technology.

The meeting came just weeks after Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor, disclosed to the South China Morning Post details of US cyberspying efforts in China, including hacking into the systems of Tsinghua University and Chinese telecommunications firms.

"The bloc of developing countries have been getting closer and closer on the issue of cyber and information security, especially now that it seems to be clear that the US is a threat to them in these areas," said Professor Liu Deliang , head of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Cyber Law Studies at Beijing Normal University.

"Countries like China, Russia and India obviously feel how the internet is currently run is unsafe for their development and they must get together and guard against the US," Liu said.

Snowden's claims have bolstered fears that reliance on equipment and software made by US-based companies, like Cisco or Microsoft, represent a security threat to China because they could provide the US government with a back door into critical Chinese systems.

Tensions between the two countries were already running high over hacking, amid claims that People's Liberation Army hackers had infiltrated numerous private US companies, including The New York Times.