Hackers Don’t Let The Hacked Hack Back

Talk to a less technically-inclined person about information security for long enough and they’ll eventually and inevitably suggest the following idea: “what if the firewall hacked back at those jerk hackers?” If you’re not an idiot, you then explain exactly why you don’t want a firewall or similar security countermeasure that retaliates against intruders: because there is no legal self-defense doctrine for hacking, nor even a reliable guarantee that your automated retaliation will reach its intended target.

Apparently, someone had the hack-back conversation and was an idiot.