Should U.S. Companies Be Permitted To Strike Back Against Foreign Cyber Spies And Hackers?

People walk past 'Unit 61398', a secretive Chinese military unit, in the outskirts of Shanghai, Feb. 19, 2013. The unit is believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks, a U.S. computer security company said, prompting a strong denial by China and accusations that it was in fact the victim of U.S. hacking.(Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Should The U.S. Allow Companies To ‘Hack Back’ Against Foreign Cyber Spies? -- Max Fisher, Washington Post

Foreign hackers do remarkable damage by breaking into American companies, stealing intellectual property worth enormous amounts of money, swiping proprietary secrets for military technology or other uses and, in the case of some recent Chinese attacks, even exposing U.S. counterintelligence efforts. The Obama administration has made clear that it takes the threat seriously and is escalating efforts to stop it.

One suggestion increasingly floated in the private sector is to allow companies to “hack back.” Current U.S. law makes it illegal for private firms to launch retaliatory cyberattacks, and the issue is highly controversial. But it’s entering the mainstream.

A new report, from a private commission on intellectual property theft chaired by former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and former director of national intelligence Dennis Blair, raised the possibility of changing the law to allow for hacking back. While it stopped short of directly advocating such attacks, it did call for a milder, legal form of hacking back and said the United States should consider changing the law if other measures fail.

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My Comment: I can understand why U.S. law that does not permit cyber retaliation was implemented years ago .... but not in today's world. The sad fact is that in today's world foreign companies and governments are now boasting of their cyber warfare capabilities .... and with the exception of the West and a few other states .... everyone is now getting into "this game". This Globe and Mail post is revealing on how much this "hacking culture" is now becoming a permanent feature of the internet .... especially in places like China. To stop this trend all governments will need to get involved .... but until those who are permitting this cyber warfare are not "punished" .... expect this trend to not only continue, but to get worse.