Chinese hackers are determined to ‘wreak havoc’ on US critical infrastructure, FBI director warns::FBI Director Chris Wray has told House lawmakers that Chinese government hackers are busily targeting critical infrastructure inside the United States, including water treatment plants, the electrical grid and transportation systems.
The whole “Is hacking an act of war?” thing needs to be seriously reconsidered. Of course, if the US decided it was, they would be guilty of so many acts of war. And it’s not just the US. Everybody is trying to hack everybody and acting like killing people by bringing down a power grid is somehow different than killing people by dropping a bomb. The outcome is the same: You did something that intentionally killed people.
Of course saying that hacking is an act of war opens up a huge can of worms. Suddenly small time hackers are being charged with or framed for war crimes.
It’s a delicate issue, but I think it is worth revisiting.
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I will definitely check it out. A lot of what I have heard is from the podcast “Darknet Diaries”. I feel like it is pretty commonly known around here but, man… It exposed me to a lot of things that I did not know were going on. And that’s what is currently public information. What is not public information is probably way way worse. Another commenter below mentioned something about countries spying on countries, but what is currently happening in the digital warfare realm is way more than spying. As the OP article goes into, we are talking about attacks on infrastructure. That is not spying. The line needs to be drawn somewhere. Like… Attempted murder is a crime. Why is attempted hacking on infrastructure that would kill a bunch of people not a war crime?
The concept of war is changing rapidly in the age of information. Why would you deploy boots on the ground when you can use technology to break down a country from the inside?
Actual diplomats, where the rubber meets the road, are not going to use the word war.
I don’t think it needs to be a complex issue at all. Cyber is just an extension of intelligence.
“Everybody hacks everybody” , yes, and also everybody spies on everybody. Merely spying is not an act of war.
Intelligence agencies backing coups in foreign countries? Yeah, now that’s an act of war.