(FINANCIAL TIMES) - A decade ago, the Obama White House tried to force American companies to collaborate on cyber defence. It did not go well: the US Chamber of Commerce and other big business groups blocked a cyber-security Bill, complaining that it smacked of excessive government intrusion.

"People said (it) was un-American," a former Washington official says. The mandatory sharing of information about cyber hacks, or devising joint defence strategies, was considered antithetical to free-market capitalist ideals.