Bill would eliminate immunity for foreign ackers

The Homeland and Cyber Threat Act, which would allow Americans to sue foreign hackers, was reintroduced by a group of bipartisan lawmakers, according to Nextgov. The revived bill would modify the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Foreign hackers could be held accountable for activities like illegal transmission of a program, command, code or information that would damage a U.S. computer; sharing of information obtained via unauthorized activities; and accessing electronically-stored confidential information without permission. “Cyberattacks against American citizens are only increasing and Congress should give Americans the tools they need to fight back against foreign attacks. This legislation does just that by giving Americans the ability to hold foreign governments accountable for damage done by cyberattacks,” said Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, a sponsor of the bill. However, iboss CEO Paul Martini questioned the effectiveness of this legislation, saying that “we also need to see significant government and private sector investment in technology to keep American entities secure by leveraging the advanced cloud security and zero trust policies.”