FBI Muscles Up Against Hackers With Breaches Going ‘Bananas’ (1)

For the last several years, FBI agents debated turning the tables on hackers by remotely accessing breached computer networks and booting out the attackers caught in mid-hack.

They got their chance earlier this year after state-backed Chinese hackers compromised thousands of private Microsoft Exchange email servers. In response, an FBI special agent petitioned a Houston federal judge on April 9 for authorization to remotely access hundreds of hacking victims’ computer networks and block the attackers’ digital points of entry.

Put more simply, the FBI out-hacked the hackers.

The FBI operation was part of a more aggressive approach toward hackers that ...