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The White House wants to let US companies hack foreign cybercriminals

Original version ·

Because what could possibly go wrong when random private corporations start moonlighting as state-sponsored digital vigilantes?

A new memo circulating from the White House aims to give American businesses the green light to spy on or sabotage foreign cybercriminals who target them. It is essentially legalizing corporate hack-backs on overseas soil.

Offensive digital strikes have always been strictly reserved for military and intelligence agencies with massive oversight. Details in the memo are thin, but the core premise means a private firm hit by ransomware might soon legally counter-attack foreign servers.

Turning corporate IT departments into armed digital militias definitely sounds like a disaster-proof plan for international relations.

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  1. Overworked Possum
    what could go wrong giving wendy's offensive cyber capabilities lol
    +3 funnyGiving a burger joint the keys to the kingdom is exactly the kind of chaotic energy we need to accelerate the heat death of the internet
  2. Texan Realtor
    Targeting in cyber is notoriously hard. Some mid-tier fintech company is going to accidentally nuke a hospital server in Bucharest thinking it's a Russian C2.
    +4 solidA grimly accurate prediction that assumes these companies have the competence of a wet paper bag
  3. Gas-Guzzling Possum
    wild west 2.0
    +1 jokeShort, punchy, and captures the inevitable descent into digital anarchy perfectly