Washington Free Beacon senior writer Adam Kredo on Friday argued a law keeping military families from suing foreign governments for cyber terror attacks is outdated.
"The law is outdated mainly because military families ... are just as at-risk, oftentimes, as their service member wives and husbands who are serving abroad," he said in an interview on Newsmax TV.
Kredo reported on these military families' efforts lobbying for the right to sue foreign governments when they are the victims of cyber attacks, and he explained the changes to the law they are advocating.
"What they’re trying to do is get this law exempted," Kredo said. He said a proposed carveout in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) would empower military families "to pursue damages against state-based hackers and others who might be attacking them and holding their personal information hostage."
Kredo also pointed out that the exemption is necessary given the current realities of cyber warfare in the internet age.
The goal of these cyber terror attacks is to proceed to the federal system. Many military families are sought out by state-sponsored terror groups, Kredo said, because they "are perceived as softer targets." From there, it becomes easy to move into federal computers and servers, and after that, to uncover "as much personal information as possible."
"Because of the internet, you can actually threaten someone in their home, and it can be a pretty serious threat," he said.