White House debating actions to retaliate against foreign cyberattacks

The White House is debating what actions will be taken to retaliate against individuals and countries that launch cyberattacks against the United States.

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel said officials might consider financial sanctions, visa restrictions and military action as tools to use against foreign hackers who target U.S. networks. However, the U.S. is still weighing when a cyber-incident will prompt a response from the federal government. "It's really a question that we're still debating and debating vigorously, and we need to debate within the government and as a society," Daniel said during a speech at the RSA cybersecurity conference. "What I can say is that once we decide a federal response is warranted though, there's still a broad spectrum of actions we could take." The State Department could also leverage its diplomatic powers to push countries to crack down on hacking activities from within their borders, Daniel said.