The shortest-path metric d of a connected graph G is 1/2-hyperbolic if, and only if, it satisfies d(u,v) + d(x,y) ≤ max{d(u,x) + d(v,y),d(u,y) + d(v,x)} + 1, for every 4-tuple u,x,v,y of G. We show that the problem of deciding whether an unweighted graph is 1/2-hyperbolic is subcubic equivalent to the problem of determining whether there is a chordless cycle of length 4 in a graph. An improved algorithm is also given for both problems, taking advantage of fast rectangular matrix multiplication. In the worst case it runs in O(n^{3.26})-time.