On October 15, the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative hosted an off-the-record workshop discussing whether and how the private sector might use active cyber defenses to counter the continued intrusions faced by companies.

The workshop focused on the legal and operational issues raised by different technical measures that the private sector might pursue to regain stolen information or off-balance intruders.

The workshop also covered three important, yet controversial topics: the assertion that existing defenses have not stopped espionage and criminal threats to the private sector; the assertion that current policies and legal regimes unreasonably limit the ability on the private sector to take limited actions to protect themselves from attack; and the exploration of specific scenarios of more active defenses by the private sector and how changes to law or policy could help.

This event was generously hosted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.