Why should they not be on the offensive also? Wouldn’t it be a bit naive to think that the US would sustain from offensive cyber ops, when the other major world powers actively do so?
you mean 'abstain'? and no, it would be responsible to abstaint because offensive cyber relies on knowledge of vulnerabilities in software and hence creates a incentive to not fix them which in turn weakens security for everyone.
X terrorist does it, so why can't the US right? Is this line in the sand really drawn at cyber? And does cyber not kill people in meatspace? Last I looked you drone strike weddings based on metadata.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/horrors-of-war-us-uk-munitions...