I agree that attacking healthcare infra is serious, and that human lives could suffer as a result.

But, it seems like people believe the hacking groups here are based in Russia[1][2]. "send[ing] SEAL teams to hunt them down" sounds like a quick ticket to WWIII.

I'd rather lean on organizations to secure their infra.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIN7 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DarkSide_(hacker_group)

> The ransomware group also declared it was formally removing any restrictions or discouragement against targeting hospitals and healthcare providers.

I understand where the sentiment is coming from, but don’t do that. There are a couple reasons why you shouldn’t do that.

First is that these kind of blunt categorizations end up becoming a powerful tool in exactly the wrong hands. If punishments are more severe because of some categorization, then the lawmakers and politicians in charge of defining these categories, legally, end up wielding that power against their enemies. It is simply too easy. Label one group terrorists, label another group child abusers, etc. It’s an old playbook and unfortunately it works all too well.

Second is that if you mete out capital punishment for some crime, then anybody who commits that crime would be more ready to murder to cover their tracks. Like, imagine if you gave the death penalty to horse thieves—well, if you do that, any horse thief with an ounce of sense will fight to the death to avoid getting caught. This is why only the most serious crimes can be capital crimes.

Totally agree with being very aggressive towards them though No need to label them terrorists to swat them. However I doubt that they operate from US soil.