To Catch A Hacker, Companies Start to Think Like One

With cyberattacks on the rise many companies are trying to outsmart hackers by strategically lining their systems with trapping devices known as honeypots. Attorneys warn that this aggressive practice could expose companies to liability under federal privacy and hacking laws.

Honeypots are developed within systems to lure and study hackers so that companies can in turn break into their system. Infiltrating a system believed to be tied to a cyberattack could allow companies the opportunity to recover valuable information, but attorneys caution that statutes such as the Wiretap Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act don't include exceptions for self-defense, so this move could turn the victims into criminals.