Two years ago, the Obama administration announced a new strategy to curb online espionage.(...)The White House said it would increase public awareness of the threat, encourage the private sector to increase its defenses, focus diplomacy on protecting trade secrets overseas, improve trade secret theft legislation and make investigations and prosecutions of corporate and state-sponsored trade secret theft a top priority.

“Welcome to ISIS Land” was in some ways a breakthrough for the U.S. government after years of futility in attempting to compete with the propaganda of al-Qaeda and its off-shoots. The video became a viral phenomenon — viewed more than 844,000 times on YouTube — and a cause of significant irritation to its target. But the minute-long recording also became a flash point in a much broader debate over how far the United States should go in engaging with a barbaric adversary online.

When India’s premier wanted to signal a thaw in relations with rival Pakistan recently, he didn’t call a press conference or make a televised speech. He tweeted. (...) Since Mr. Modi took office last year as leader of the world’s largest democracy, policy pronouncements have come in 140-character snippets. He has used Twitter and other social-media services to engage in diplomacy and build his image in a way few other global leaders have.

Ahead of his visit to China—from May 14 to 16—India’s social-media friendly Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the Chinese social media platform Weibo to connect with Chinese citizens. (Hello China! Looking forward to interacting with Chinese friends through Weibo)”, Prime Minister said through his social media account.

Prime minister Narendra Modi is the third most followed and fifth most influential leader globally, according to a new report called Twiplomacy 2015, a study of world leaders on Twitter Inc by global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller. The study identified 669 Twitter accounts of heads of state and government, foreign ministers and their institutions in 166 countries worldwide to analyse each leader’s Twitter profile, tweet history, and connections with the others.

Plenty of diplomatic deals get done on the margins of global get-togethers, but one conducted on Twitter in 2014 made Prime Minister Stephen Harper a digital star among his fellow world leaders.(...) Most world leaders use the social media tool to broadcast specific messages; Harper is among many who don't generally reply when messages are sent their way.

President Obama’s newly installed defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, toured Silicon Valley last week to announce a new military strategy for computer conflict, starting the latest Pentagon effort to invest in promising start-ups and to meet with engineers whose talent he declared the Pentagon desperately needed in fending off the nation’s adversaries.

Australia's approach to digital diplomacy is second-rate and entirely inadequate for a nation that sees itself as 'a top 20 country'. Despite an expanded social media presence, Australia continues to lag far behind other countries – large and small – that are investing serious resources into building up their digital diplomacy capabilities.