Antiterrorism Law Targets Hackers Around The World

The recently passed antiterrorism bill expands the types of computer systems that fall under federal jurisdiction to include those belonging to foreigners--a move critics say is a massive expansion of federal prosecutorial power. The Patriot bill, signed into law Oct. 26, lets the United States arrest and charge a hacker who breaks into a computer, even if the hacker's Internet traffic merely travels through U.S. computers or routers, says Mark Rasch, VP for cyberlaw at security firm Predictive Systems Inc. and former head of the U.S. Department of Justice Computer Crime Unit. It's estimated that more than 80% of all Internet traffic passes through U.S. systems.

Previously, the United States could prosecute hackers only if they attacked U.S. systems. Under Section 814 of the Patriot bill, any activity deemed illegal by the United States involving "a computer located outside the United States that is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce or communication of the United States" is considered a crime. Some experts fear this expansion of legal authority will create problems. "This is the first time the United States can prosecute cases where both the victim and the hackers aren't in the United States," Rasch says.

"If they start chasing people who aren't terrorists, you have a McCarthy-type problem,'' says Michael Erbschloe, VP of research at Computer Economics, a research firm, and author of Information Warfare: How To Survive Cyber Attacks (McGraw Hill Professional Publishing, 2001). He's concerned that hackers such as those who hack sites of companies that use animals in cosmetics may be targeted as terrorist threats. "It doesn't seem the Justice Department makes a distinction," Erbschloe argues.

But Charles Neal, VP of cyberterrorism and incident response for Exodus Communications Inc., says the law is a much-needed legal tool to thwart terrorists targeting the United States. Terrorists who use the Net to conspire within different nations to attack the United States now can be prosecuted. Says Neal, "It's not going to be used very often, and as long as the Feds don't greatly expand the number of investigators, the potential for abuse is very small."