Do you remember 1986? The first class was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster rocked our world, and Top Gun was the highest grossing film of the year. That year also brought us the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a law that many have suggested hasn’t kept up with the rapid pace of technological innovation. After all, ARPANET was in its infancy in 1983, and the World Wide Web wouldn’t become a consumer reality until around 1990. Protecting isolated computers is a wildly different thing from keeping networked devices secure in the IOT world.

The Wild, Wild West of Cyberspace

So this debate has proffered a new perspective in the Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act (ACDC), a draft bill ushered in by Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia. The act would allow victims of cybercrimes to “hack back,” a practice currently forbidden by the CFAA. The pros and cons of such a measure have been discussed for years, and this should enliven that debate, with seasoned voices on both sides. Consider the perspective of U.S. Cyber Command’s Adm. Mike Rogers, who, according to Politico, told a House Armed Services Subcommittee, “My concern is be leery of putting more gunfighters out on the street in the Wild West.”

The Solace of Forethought

While breaches these days might seem inevitable, the best offense remains a strong defense. Rather than contemplate your ability to hack back your data and inflict pain on the perps, call ICS and let’s work together to keep your data and network secure in the first place. That’s what we do best. We enable you to focus on what you do best: run your business.