back to article US Congress mulls first 'hack back' revenge law. And yup, you can guess what it'll let people do

Two members of the US House of Representatives today introduced a law bill that would allow hacking victims to seek revenge and hack the hackers who hacked them. The Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act (ACDC) [PDF] amends the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to make limited retaliatory strikes against cyber-miscreants legal in …

Page:

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Because the internet is not already "wild, wild west" enough

    Let's instead turn it into full-on Syria-on-a-bad-day!

    (Mine is the M1A1 Abrams tank.)

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anonymous for many good reasons...

    One of my websites was under constant attack from a networked photocopier/printer in Australia a few years ago. So what do you do..?

    ...You find the default login for the machine and set it to print 10,000 copies of a message that says 'This machine has been hacked and is being used to attack websites. Fix it. Change your login.' That's what you do.

    Might have been 1,000 copies but it was enough to make 'em take notice. Never heard from that machine again.

    It is reasonable to expect that if you hack into someone's system(s) then you must expect to be targeted back with a reasonable response.

  3. Stevie

    Bah!

    I have no doubt that this will end up being viewed as the greatest law ever and will show no possible downsides.

    In unrelated news: "SWATting" seems to be on the rise again.

  4. Lion

    The Lawmakers who introduced this Bill must be under the impression that all cyber criminals are bored millennials inhabiting suburban basements. They want to start an American 'civil war' in cyber space, to fix the misguided. The enemy is thy neighbor.

    Meanwhile, a real cyber war has been underway for years, populated with sophisticated state actors, agents of chaos and organised crime. Vigilante counterattacks here and there will be met with either contempt, a vicious up the ante campaign or they will fuel the American cyber 'civil war' to their own advantage. My bet is on the latter.

    1. StargateSg7

      While you are for the most part correct, you SHOULD also realize that one is

      dealing with America!....and a pissed off America tends to shoot first and ask

      questions later! Which means that in the REAL WORLD, said state actors,

      criminal agents and even the moms-basement dwelling millennial will end up

      with their basements burned and bombed out to the concrete and theirs and

      their children's and/or Mom's guts and brains spilling out into the street from

      a suite of Hellfire missiles fired from 50,000 feet (15000 metres)!

      Try NOT to piss off an America already-pissed off even more so than it already is!

      1. Laura Kerr
        Mushroom

        "Try NOT to piss off an America already-pissed off even more so than it already is!"

        So it's a natural state of affairs that the rest of humanity must live in fear of that ignorant lout in the White House? I don't think so.

        I'd happily see America descend into perpetual civil war, if that would stop Washington poking its nose into other countries' affairs.

        1. jake Silver badge

          Laura, and other "anti Yank" folks:

          Might want to put your own house in order before attempting to fix ours.

          Or at least visit before painting us all with the same brush. Ta.

          1. Laura Kerr

            Re: Laura, and other "anti Yank" folks:

            Two things, Jake:

            1. I have visited the US, and seen more places than just the tourist hot-spots. I don't claim to understand the entire country, but I have seen more than just BBC pap and clickbait webshites.

            2. Our house is well and truly screwed, agreed. I wouldn't trust our government to make a success of running a public lavatory, if the Brexit farce is anything to go by. That's why I returned home last year, as Holyrood still has a fighting chance of saving Scotland from disaster.

            But dysfunctional governments aside, the difference between the left and right pondians is that we don't ponce around the world thinking we own the place and we also make it difficult for people to own firearms without having a legitimate need for them. We also take a dim view of vigilantism, which this proposed legislation appears to be encouraging.

            I couldn't care less what the US does internally - those are matters between US citizens and their elected government. What I do care about is that government's attitude to the rest of the globe, as the cretin in the White House is quite capable of provoking a nuclear war. And that's something everyone, including Americans in the backwoods, should be concerned about, as radioactive particles and nuclear winter don't give a toss about your border security, or anyone else's, for that matter.

        2. Bernard M. Orwell

          "So it's a natural state of affairs that the rest of humanity must live in fear of that ignorant lout in the White House?"

          The United States was founded in 1776. That's 239 years ago. During that period of time, the US has been in a formal state of war with one party or another for 222 years. That's 93% of its existence, or, if you prefer, it has been in a state of peace for 17 years of its entire life. It's longest period of "peacetime" was six years, from 1935 to 1940.

          I think that speaks for itself.

          [Source] : http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/america-war-93-time-222-239-years-since-1776.html

          1. Bernard M. Orwell

            "1 thumb down"

            I'm sorry you don't like facts. I know they can be uncomfortable.

            Hugs and Stuff from Uncle UK.

  5. RedPills

    Always about money, corruption

    It's quite likely that this proposal is coming from "cyber" security lobby groups who know that their industry could grow tenfold if they are allowed to work the offensive side. Fat official government contracts, mercenary arrangements, and limitless commercial vigilante work. Hell, they could even play both sides. The industry is already swimming in cash, so the chance at a significant increase I'm sure justified quite large campaign donations, enough to convince these representatives to present such laughable legislation. Given the shift in american politics, playing to the ignorant in the extreme, they just might get away with it.

  6. billslater
    Black Helicopters

    What about #Attribution?

    So how will the victims who are contemplating #RevengeHacks solve #TheAttributionProblem?

    Just curious.

  7. CircuitBreaker

    Extremely limited usefulness

    It seems, to me at any rate, all this does is potentially put only Americans under the gun for hacking. It does nothing to staunch the flow of Chinese/Russian/Insert fav country incursions into American networks which is the real source of problems.

  8. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Coat

    In a perfect world

    an ACDC bill would have been introduced by representatives named Tesla and Edison.

    Further proof the world isn't perfect

    I'd better get me coat.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Computer Misuse

    I am looking forward to when advertisers step over the line regarding using my machine. I guess then they become fair game, and I am legally allowed cyber attack them?

  10. Tigra 07
    Pirate

    That featured tweet is an exaggeration:

    "I never thought of it this way. It's basically the cyber version of being allowed to murder someone for entering your property."

    It's more like being given a license to burgle your burglar and destroy or steal your own property in the process.

    This sounds good. I've always been a fan of an eye for an eye, but the collateral damage will be horrendous: Person A burgles Person B, who suspects Person C, and burgles him...He then suspects Person D...And...See where i'm going with this?

    We'll end up with the Purge...

  11. Jtom

    Ok. Sorry to disappoint, this is not snarky, insulting, or full of bravado, but a real question. I am curious why those with massive data files (cough, cough, Equifax), don't have 'red dye-packs' buried in their data files. They would be buried routines that would trigger some event if they were moved from one network/operating system/whatever to another. No one would legitimately be asking for the transfer of these specific 'files' because no one would know they were there. They would only be accessed in a bulk transfer.

    The triggered event could be something benign - like sending a traceable email to the data-owner, or more severe, like encrypting everything in the files (and only the data-owner has the key).

    If this gives anyone any ideas for a product, I relinquish all rights. I'm tired of the creeps causing these problems.

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      "I am curious why those with massive data files (cough, cough, Equifax), don't have 'red dye-packs' buried in their data files. They would be buried routines that would trigger some event if they were moved from one network/operating system/whatever to another."

      Data isn't generally executed. Things don't quite happen in the way it does in movies, most of the time. Although Microsoft has tried hard to make it really insecure by running all sorts of sh*t that should never be run, on the altar if being "friendly".

  12. onebignerd

    Hack back

    Yeah this is what we need, tit-for-tat revenge in Federal Laws. I am sure this won't cause any problems.

  13. jobardu

    Hacking Back is common sense and necessary

    The government is doing a poor job of protecting the citizenry, the economy and the military against foreign hackers. ADM Mike Rogers, NSA Director, opposes hacking back by using scare terms about Pandora's Box and chaos. He wants his office to retain its monopoly on offensive cyber and hacking back. Yet the citizenry feels helpless and the people are still bleeding jobs and fortunes.

    Another fear of Rogers and the bureaucracy is that allowing private industry to defend citizens and companies from hacking and pursuing offenders could show up politically constrained, conflicted- priority government efforts for their lack of accomplishments, focus and effectiveness.

    I can remember not too long ago, the SOPA and PIPA bills which showed that the Government priorities were protecting music and movies over protecting Industry and personal information. It was a reenactment of the Dutch purchasing Manhattan Island for $25 worth of Trinkets. In this case, it was the Government, and the then head of the NSA, that was selling the country to the Chinese for a few DVDs. Few people, and fewer news media, called them out on it then and isn't doing so now, the sponsors of this legislation excepted.

    Free enterprise and private industry can always do a better job if there is a free market. What we need is a few companies to serve as Cyber Pinkertons or similar organizations. Will it have some rough spots and will make it a little uncomfortable for government civil service cyber defense groups. Yes, it will, but it will also help make people feel less helpless and provide a layer of threat and uncertainty to private hackers. Hacking won't stop until the price of hacking exceeds the returns yielded by hacking. That isn't happening now, and it is time for a change.

  14. olumuyiwa

    hotel hell

    thank is happen to me now have been to three hotel motel6, palace in and crossland by highway6 palace at main street now at intown hotel still going on sound coming in like music , eardroping sound from the ac and talk from the bed wall, sound from microwave and toilet vent, as the hotel about the room security say they have from the doors, but still hear the sound

Page:

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like