Stefan Mileschin

The only way to get them to stop

A former FBI director has called for cyber-strikes against China in a bid to get them stop hacking other countries.

Louis Freeh, who ran the FBI for eight years until 2001, said the threat of criminal charges or jail time would do little to prevent state sponsored hackers from continuing to steal valuable intellectual property.

Free said that it was like trying to serve a subpoena on Osama Bin Laden.

He was talking in Australia where the country is getting a little bit miffed at Chinese hackers. An investigation by The Australian Financial Review and Nine News confirmed China's Ministry of State Security (MSS), was responsible for the recent wave of attacks on Australian companies.

These formed part of what is known in cyber circles as "Operation Cloud Hopper", which was detected by Australia and its partners in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance.

The attacks on Australian companies are in breach of an agreement struck between Premier Li Keqiang and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in April 2017 to not steal each other's commercial secrets.

Freeh believes a formidable cyber deterrence capability is the best defence. He said that offensive cyber capabilities were similar to the doctrine of mutually assured destruction during the Cold War, which he said ultimately prevented nuclear weapons being used.

https://fudzilla.com/news/47642-fbi-...-cyber-strikes