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martyb writes:

President Trump Relaxes US Cyber-Attacks Rules:

President Trump has signed an order relaxing rules around the use of cyber-weapons, the Wall Street Journal reports.[*]

It is a reversal of guidelines, drawn up under President Obama, which required a large number of federal agencies to be involved in any decision to launch a cyber-attack.

[...] The US administration is under pressure to deal with cyber-threats, amid growing concerns that state-sponsored hacks could hit critical infrastructure.

Prof Alan Woodward, a computer scientist at the University of Surrey, told the BBC: "We are in a era when certain governments are acting aggressively in cyber-space, and that is rightly condemned by governments such as that in the US.

"To respond in kind is not necessarily the way to de-escalate the situation."

He added: "You wouldn't allow a pre-emptive physical attack without thorough analysis and approval at the highest levels, so why would cyber-attacks be any different?"

[*] Paywalled.

Let's hope extreme care is taken to identify the actual source of an attack, rather than the apparent source.

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