Counterterrorism Expert Says It’s Time To Give Companies Offensive Cybercapabilities

The U.S. government should deputize private companies to strike back against cyberattackers as a way to discourage widespread threats against the nation’s businesses, a former government official says.

Many U.S. businesses have limited options for defending their IP networks, and the nation needs to develop more “aggressive” capabilities to discourage cyberattacks, said Juan Zarate, the former deputy national security advisor for counterterrorism during President George W. Bush’s administration.

The U.S. government should consider allowing businesses to develop “tailored hack-back capabilities,” Zarate said Monday at a forum on economic and cyberespionage hosted by think tank the Hudson Institute. The U.S. government could issue cyberwarrants, giving a private company license “to protect its system, to go and destroy data that’s been stolen or maybe even something more aggressive,” he added.

Zarate, now a senior counselor focused on sanctions at antiterrorism think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called for better cybersecurity tools as well, but suggested a new way of thinking about the tools “that not only puts us on the defensive, but also on the offensive.”

With huge new breaches reported in the U.S. every few days, the current response against cyberattacks isn’t working, said Zarate and Steven Chabinsky, chief risk officer at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Several panelists at the Hudson event contributed to a new report, “Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare: An Evolving Challenge.”

U.S. vulnerabilities, with more and more devices connecting to the Internet, are increasing over time, not decreasing, Zarate said. Meanwhile, it doesn’t cost cybercriminals or nation states much money to develop attacks, he said.

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