NewsNTech
Attribution is the hard constraint in offensive cyber.
A network intrusion traced back to a state actor exposes the sponsoring government to diplomatic and legal consequences that an operation traced to a private company does not.
The Trump administration is moving to press that asymmetry into use, enlisting US technology companies in a cyber privateering program modeled on American Revolutionary War-era strategy, when the government authorized private citizens to attack adversaries on the nation's behalf.
The structural logic of privateering The Revolutionary War model worked because it separated state liability from offensive capability.
Keep reading