Revenge Hacking, should it be legal?

[saidsimplesimon]

Revenge Hacking Is Hitting the Big Time
Companies are hacking back against cybercriminals to try to prevent—or at least limit the damage of—Equifax-style disasters. One problem: It’s not all that legal.

JOSEPH COX
09.19.17 1:00 AM ET


The plan was to hack the hackers. Cybercriminals had targeted a global bank’s customers with phishing emails to break into their accounts. The legal option—waiting for law enforcement to investigate and perhaps apprehend the hackers—would have taken too long. So the bank was willing to try something else, and a team of security consultants offered to strike back.

The idea, one member of the team said, “was full breach. Collect intel on suspects; who possibly had been caught [by the hackers’ attacks],” and then destroy any stolen data. The Daily Beast granted anonymity to the source, who worked with the hacking team on behalf of the bank, to discuss sensitive industry practices. They did not name the bank.

The bank’s team broke into the hackers’ infrastructure on a selection of overseas servers, and found a list of who exactly the attackers had phished, as well as clues on their location.

Rather than attackers quietly stealing information from, say, Equifax, imagine if a group of counter-hackers caught them in the act? What if they then struck back—and deleted the siphoned data before more damage could be done?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-shadowy-world-of-revenge-hackers

[Ilsa]

1. I hope it works, especially the objective

of destroying the databases they stole.

[saidsimplesimon]

2. I agree.

The article does continue with several "what could go wrong" scenarios. For example: What if your server or PC have been hijacked and used by the data thieves?

[Orrex]

3. If this is about those nekkid pictures, I was young and needed the money.

[saidsimplesimon]

4. Thank you, Orrex

I did enjoy the artwork at the Etsy link you provided. I could not find the "nekkid" pictures. Your art is worth the price and I'm sure all artists are young at heart and need money.

[Orrex]

5. Thank you very much for the kind words!

My amazing wife is the artist, creating remarkable paintings and needlework beyond anything I could ever manage.

I do the chainmaille stuff, which is still nifty of course, but not quite on the same level.


Thank you again!