Episode 215: The Zelig of Hacking Back
Our interview is with Nick Schmidle, staff writer for the New Yorker. His report on cybersecurity work that goes to the edge of the law and beyond turns up some previously unreported material, including the tale of Shawn Carpenter, a cybersecurity researcher with a talent for showing
Back for a rematch, John Lynch and I return to the “hackback” debate in episode 97, with Jim Lewis of CSIS providing color commentary. John Lynch is the head of the Justice Department’s computer crime section. We find more common ground than might be expected but plenty of conflict as well. I suggest that Sheriff Arpaio in Arizona may soon be dressing hackers in pink while deputizing backhackers, while Jim Lewis focuses on the risk of adverse foreign government reactions. We also consider when it’s lawful to use “web beacons” and whether trusted security professionals should be given more leeway to take action outside their customers’ networks. In response to suggestions that those who break into hacker hop points might be sued by the third parties who nominally own those hop points, I suggest that those parties could face counterclaims for negligence. We close with a surprisingly undogmatic discussion of Justice Department “no-action letters” for computer security practitioners considering novel forms of active defense.
Continue Reading Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with John Lynch
James Baker, General Counsel of the FBI, is our guest on this week’s podcast. He fearlessly tackles the FBI’s aerial surveillance capabilities, stingrays, “Going Dark,” encryption, and the bureau’s sometimes controversial attribution of cyberattacks. But he prudently punts on the Hack of the Century, refusing to reveal details of the FBI investigation into the
Our guest for Episode 69 is Jason Brown, the Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge of the Cyber Intelligence Section at the US Secret Service. We talk about the Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Forces and their critical role in investigating data breaches affecting financial
Episode 65 would be ugly if it weren’t so much fun. Our guest is Bruce Schneier, cryptographer, computer science and privacy guru, and author of the best-selling Data and Goliath – a book I annotated every few pages of with the words, “Bruce, you can’t possibly really believe this.” And that’s pretty much how
Our guest this week is Joanne McNabb, Director of Privacy Education and Policy for the California Attorney General’s Office. Joanne discusses the findings and recommendations in the recently released 2014 California Data Breach Report. She also offers insight into some of the key factors the Attorney General’s Office considers in deciding whether or not
Our guest is one of the most highly regarded cybercrime prosecutors in the country – John Lynch, the Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) in DOJ’s Criminal Division. Among other things, John talks about how DOJ is organized to investigate and prosecute cybercrime and about its efforts to strengthen partnerships with