An 18th-century war power resurfaces in cyber policy talks

DAVID DIMOLFETTA

Source Link

In recent closed-door discussions, Trump administration and industry officials have discussed whether modern-day letters of marque—once used to deputize privately owned ships to lawfully attack other vessels during wartime—might enable private-sector hacking operations against unfriendly nation-states, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the sensitive deliberations.

The high-level view among U.S. officials is that this old-world maritime authority is unlikely to be directly used in cyberspace, but a more modern, tailored version might arise as the administration seeks ways to even the fight against Chinese-backed groups, one of the people said.

“The general consensus from [U.S. government] officials on the topic is that we aren’t going to apply a 200-year-old [privateering] authority to the cyber domain,” said the person. “However, there is a standing question and ongoing debate regarding what modern authorities and authorizations are required by various cybersecurity and tech industry organizations to better enable the defense of the United States.”

Letters of marque played a major role during the War of 1812, when the U.S. government issued them to private ship-owners to capture British vessels. And even further back, they were used to convert pirates into privateers, acting on behalf of their sponsoring governments to raid enemy ships. Privateering was broadly outlawed by the U.S. and other signatories to an 1858 treaty, although the Confederacy used it during the Civil War.

Outnumbered against China

The idea of modern-day letters of marque has been raised several times since the 9/11 attacks, and again in recent months in connection with Chinese hacking.

Late last month, in a private meeting at the RSAC Conference in San Francisco, a senior U.S. official told a room of cybersecurity executives that Chinese cyber capabilities outmatch those of the U.S., according to a person who was at the discussion. The person declined to name the senior official.