It should not come as a surprise to anyone, but never before has an American official acknowledged that the US government is working on or is in possession of malware capable of attacking a foreign nation in a cyber conflict, despite the fact that at least one attack – the famous Stuxnext worm – has been attributed to the USA.
“I would like to be clear that this team, this defend-the-nation team, is not a defensive team.”
For the first time, NSA chief and head of the US Cyber Command Gen. Keith Alexander admitted America is ready to attack in cyberspace, website Mashable.com reports. On Wednesday, in his annual testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Alexander took the cyber war rhetoric coming out of Washington up a notch: “I would like to be clear that this team, this defend-the-nation team, is not a defensive team,” he said. “This is an offensive team.”
In other words, this cyber army is ready to retaliate in case of a cyber attack against the United States.
As part of the expansion of the cyber security force, Alexander also said that he is adding 40 teams, 13 focused on offensive operations and 27 for surveillance and training. Thanks to the expansion, the cyber command will grow from 900 to a corps of more than 4.000 employees.
As previously reported, the new command will have three arms: two defensive ones that will secure critical infrastructure and the Pentagon‘s own system, and an offensive one. This expansion, Alexander explained, is justified by the imminent threat of a cyber attack on US critical infrastructure, like its power grid or the financial system.
According to Alexander, this kind of attack poses a major threat, even bigger than a terrorist attack.
Well, that’s what experts have been saying for years….
The most important question now is not if the US will respond to the continuously ongoing cyber attacks against corporations and government institutions all over the world, but when, and how…
FULL POST@Mashable.com
Related by econoTwist’s:
- Kaspersky: “Humanity Not Ready To Deal With The Dangers of Cyber Weapons”
- US Ready to Strike Back Against China Cyberattacks
- US Federal Reserve: Hacked, Tapped and Smacked
- State of the Union: Obama’s Cybersecurity Plan
- US Security Firm Alleges Massive Chinese Hacking
- Microsoft Confirm: We’ve Been Hacked, too
- Cisco accused of stealing data from Swiss services firm Multiven
- The Cyber War: Complete Coverage
- The Cyber War (Complete Coverage) Part 2: A New Battlefield
- The Cyber War (III): Complete Chaos
Other related articles:
- Hackers Attack Bank Minutes After NSA Chief Warns Senate About Hackers Attacking Banks (theatlanticwire.com)
- Pentagon Creates 13 Offensive Cyber Teams For Worldwide Attacks (infiniteunknown.net)
- Ramp up the “Cyber” Rhetoric (securosis.com)
- US Spy Chiefs: Cyber Threat Is on Par With Terrorism (newser.com)
- The NSA Is Training Covert Hackers To Attack Other Countries (gizmodo.com.au)
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Reblogged this on Rational Arrogance and commented:
The most important question now is not if the US will respond to the continuously ongoing cyber attacks against corporations and government institutions all over the world, but when, and how…