France Will Hack Its Enemies Back, Its Defense Secretary Says

France's defence secretary Florence Parly had a declaration to make this week: 'Cyber war has begun.' And she said the Euro nation's military will use its 'cyber arms as all other traditional weapons... to respond and attack,' as well as setting up a military bug bounty program. From a report: Parly made her pledges during a speech to the Forum International de Cybersecurite (FIC) in the northern French town of Lille. Her speech was on a topic that most Western countries shy away from addressing directly in public. 'The cyber weapon is not only for our enemies,' said France's defence secretary this afternoon, speaking through a translator. 'No. It's also, in France, a tool to defend ourselves. To respond and attack.' Her remarks will be seen as moving the debate about offensive cyber capabilities -- not just so-called 'active defence' but using infosec techniques as another weapon in the arsenal of state-on-state warfare -- to a new level.

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