The congressional advisory body US-China Economic and Security Review Commission is due to release a new report on Wednesday that recommends that U.S. companies hack China back in order to recover or destroy stolen data, according to The Big Story.
"The United States is ill-prepared to defend itself from cyber espionage when its adversary is determined, centrally coordinated, and technically sophisticated, as is the CCP and China's government," the report said.
The threat of a hacking retaliation may help to deter Chinese hackers that believe they have nothing to lose and would also help the U.S. learn more about those behind the hacks, according to Engadget.
"The Chinese government appears to believe that it has more to gain than to lose from its cyber espionage and attack campaign," the report said. "So far, it has acquired valuable technology, trade secrets, and intelligence. The costs imposed have been minimal compared to the perceived benefit. The campaign is likely to continue and may well escalate."
Despite the benefits of retaliation, it will do nothing to ease political tensions and in addition it may not help the US get a firmer grasp on which parties in China are doing the hacking, according to BBC News.
"We can point towards Chinese IP addresses but we don't have a good idea as to which party within China was motivated and did the hacking," Sean Sullivan, security adviser at information security firm F-Secure said.
