14 DAY TRIAL // The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering the initiation of criminal prosecution against cybercriminals that attack the country’s infrastructure or steal classified state information, even if the attacker is a government.
The computer networks operated by the United States government are a tempting target for many foreign hackers, which in many cases are sponsored by their own countries. So far, the US couldn’t do much about it except investigate and publicly point the finger at the culprit.
However, according to Defense News, the DOJ is training over 100 prosecutors and the FBI will be asked to investigate cases that can be actually brought to court.
John Carlin, the principal deputy assistant attorney general in Justice Department’s National Security Division, explained that they would first try to indict the actual hackers. That would be like legally pursuing a spy that has been caught in the US.
But they might also indict governments, or the people in the government responsible for the crimes. Furthermore, they might also go after the company that uses technology stolen from the US.