{"id":14788,"date":"2018-10-04T22:11:58","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T22:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/04\/is-the-us-legal-system-an-effective-cyber-deterrent\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:41:33","slug":"is-the-us-legal-system-an-effective-cyber-deterrent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/home\/2018\/10\/04\/is-the-us-legal-system-an-effective-cyber-deterrent\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the US legal system an effective cyber deterrent?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Department of Justice indicted seven agents associated with the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU \u2014 a Moscow military intelligence agency \u2014 for hacking anti-doping agencies overseas and organizations in the United States. The Oct. 4 charges are the latest example of the United States\u2019 whole-of-government approach to deterring malicious cyber activity via naming and shaming perpetrators, an approach that has detractors and defenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/doj-fbi\/2018\/10\/04\/us-charges-7-russian-intel-officers-as-west-condemns-gru\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18277429227179.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US charges 7 Russian intel officers as West condemns military spy agency<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Russia&#039;s GRU military spy agency is blamed for &quot;brazen&quot; attacks across the globe.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many experts outside government have been skeptical of the approach sand note that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fifthdomain.com\/civilian\/fbi-doj\/2018\/07\/13\/12-russian-intelligence-agents-accused-of-hacking-the-2016-election\/\" target=\"_blank\">hackers from Russia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/20\/us\/us-to-charge-chinese-workers-with-cyberspying.html\" target=\"_blank\">China<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/2016\/03\/24\/justice-indicts-7-iranian-hackers-for-attacks-on-us-infrastructure\/\" target=\"_blank\">Iran<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fifthdomain.com\/civilian\/fbi-doj\/2018\/09\/07\/here-are-some-key-details-from-hacking-complaint-against-north-korean\/\" target=\"_blank\">North Korea<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/defensesystems.com\/articles\/2016\/03\/23\/us-charges-3-syrian-electronic-army-members.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Syria<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/defensesystems.com\/articles\/2016\/03\/23\/us-charges-3-syrian-electronic-army-members.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a>will never see the inside of a U.S. courtroom and thus won\u2019t feel pressure to cease hacking activity. But current and former U.S. officials disagree, however, and see the merit of indicting actors for conducting malicious cyber activity in cyberspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI would take issue with the premise of your question that name and shame doesn\u2019t work. There is deterrent value even if we can\u2019t put our hands on the defendants at this time,\u201d Scott Brady, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said during an Oct. 4 press conference. \u201cNumber one they are limited form traveling because they know if they travel in countries with which we have extradition that they will be sent to the United States and they will be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link smg-interstitial-link--fallback wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fifthdomain.com\/congress\/policy\/2018\/09\/28\/why-the-government-will-publicly-name-the-hackers-who-attack-the-us\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__fallback-link\">Why the government will publicly name the hackers who attack the US<\/a><\/aside>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While many of these hackers in large nations, such as Russia and China, are unlikely to travel to begin with, thus eliminating the deterrent value, some travel limitations can stop future attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor people claiming that indictments of foreign nation-state cyber operatives won\u2019t have any effects, here is a counterexample: These folks were conducting close-access ops against hard targets requiring travel. They won\u2019t be able to do that anymore,\u201d Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and CTO of cyber firm CrowdStrike, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DAlperovitch\/status\/1047855081612353536\" target=_blank>tweeted<\/a> Oct. 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the indictment, if remote hacking was unsuccessful, \u201con-site\u201d or \u201cclose access\u201d hacking operations were conducted by the conspirators, which involved GRU hackers with sophisticated equipment traveling to victims\u2019 locations around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And even homebody hackers might face consequences by naming and shaming, as unwanted notoriety could limit their ability to secure official government business or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/china-tests-limits-of-us-hacking-truce\/\" target=\"_blank\">moonlighting opportunities, as many Chinese military hackers do<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think it\u2019s a very interesting [question], bringing this issue home to the individual operators, whether it\u2019s indicting individuals even though you know they will never be extradited. Is that a career un-enhancing move if you are a member of the [Chinese People\u2019s Liberation Army] or the member of a proxy group in Russia or Iran? Is your cover burned forever doing more things for that government?\u201d asked Sean Kanuck, visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and former national intelligence Officer for cyber issues, at a media roundtable discussion hosted by Stanford\u2019s Hoover Institution in California Oct. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWho knows? But if you can make this personal, such that someone\u2019s career and their financial livelihood or the special benefits their family gets in certain countries are no longer available to them, will it make future very talented people not interested in following a similar career path?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is only a successful tool if the Russians are trying not to get caught, something many, including Kanuck, believe may no longer be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRussia actually wants to be seen doing certain things. Plausible deniability but clearly sending geopolitical signals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kevin Mandia, chief executive of the cyber firm FireEye, said at the same event that Russia has changed its behavior in cyberspace since 2015. One critical way includes letting responders obverse their behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prior to 2015, Mandia said he never observed Russian behavior in cyberspace because if they detected they\u2019d been caught inside a network, they would cut and run. Now, Russian hackers are much more noisy and brazen and less prone to doing counter-forensics and cleaning up the tools and directories used for specific breaches and missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials point to China as an example of a successful naming and shaming campaign, while recognizing that public lectures and action directed against state hackers was coupled with parallel diplomatic efforts at the head-of-state level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have seen a change in at least China &#8230; their corporate espionage practices and those were a part of bilateral discussions between the president and the State Department,\u201d Brady said during the Oct. 4 press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brady was referencing a 2015 agreement between China\u2019s resident Xi Jinping and former U.S. President Barack Obama pledging not to use cyber means for economic gain against each other. However,, some experts note China\u2019s activity resumed following the conclusion of the Obama administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regardless, Brady said the government sees the indictment as effective. He added it\u2019s also important that the victims of these crimes understand that the government is behind them and will hold people accountable publicly for crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Current and former officials know foreign hackers may never see the inside of a U.S. courtroom, but they feel there are strong reasons to pursue them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":32067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":29,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,29,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3268],"class_list":["post-14788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"BJXRPTEMONBZZOEKWXBGQYQQVY","arc_canonical_url":"\/civilian\/2018\/10\/04\/is-the-us-legal-system-an-effective-cyber-deterrent\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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