Is Hacking in Self-Defense Legal?
When Robert Clark meets with large corporations and government agencies that have been hacked, many express the same feeling. They want revenge.
But the impulse to strike back is fraught with legal danger, said Clark, operational attorney for the U.S. Army Cyber Command, who plans to deliver that message on Thursday in a speech at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.
“I’ve been involved in this field in-depth for 10 years, and the first thing everybody asks is, ‘How do I hack back? I want to smack somebody,’” he said in an interview. “And my response is always the same: Why? Because you’re mad? What do you want to get out of it?” The allure of hacking back is growing as digital espionage and trade-secret theft have become rampant.
