Chinese hacking continues to build anger in American business and government circles. As a result, private companies may be encouraged to do more than passively defend their networks as evidenced by the recent report of a commission headed by two Obama appointees, former US Ambassador to China (and minor GOP Presidential candidate) Jon Huntsman and former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. The report apparently lists Chinese hacking as a major threat to intellectual property (it's due out later today). And, according to early press reports, the commission calls for an expansion of private companies' authority to track their stolen data back to the attacker's network:
"If counterattacks against hackers were legal, there are many techniques that companies could employ that would cause severe damage to the capability" of the Chinese or other groups committing computerized theft, the report said. But it added a qualifier: "while properly empowered law enforcement authorities are mobilized." Many in the administration have opposed such ideas, fearing that they could lead to a cycle of escalation between the United States and other nations that could easily spin out of control."
The commission also adopts another view first popularized here: that attribution of attacks should be followed by retribution, and it comes up with at least one clever bit of retribution that I'd missed: restrictions on access to US stock exchanges:
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