Editor’s Note: See the 2005 CircleID article, Should the Government Prepare a Preemptive Cyber-Attack?
From: New York Times
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In short, the federal government must ensure that deterrence works in the digital domain. Cyberconflicts often pit the vast resources of nation-states against those of private companies. Businesses can only be reasonably expected to agree to increased cybersecurity regulation if they have confidence in the government to perform its basic function of protecting its citizens.
Just as policy frameworks exist to respond to, and dissuade, physical attacks on Americans and their interests, foreign and domestic, so the government must deter adventurism in cyberspace. Notably, this doesn’t merely mean that one hack justifies another — rather, the full range of diplomatic, informational, economic and military options should be on the table. Failure to make such consequences clear and credible contributes to a fundamental failure of deterrence in cyberspace and exposes the United States government, American businesses, and individual citizens to many more such attacks in the future.
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