Thread: Cyberspace strategy announced by Defense Department

Cyberspace strategy announced by Defense Department

Thu, 2011-07-14 05:17 PM
By: John P. Mello, Jr.

Lynn: at
important juncture

The military's strategy for cyberspace was defined July 14 as the U.S. Defense Department aired its long anticipated scheme for operating in the electronic ether.

Speaking at a news conference at the National Defense University in Washington, DC, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III acknowledged that the connection of cyberspace to the military's mission to protect the security of the nation is ambiguous.

"We do not know the exact way in which cyber will figure in the execution of this mission, or the precise scenarios that will arise," he said in a prepared statement. "But the centrality of information technology to our military operations and our society virtually guarantees that future adversaries will target our dependence on it."

"Our assessment is that cyber attacks will be a significant component of any future conflict, whether it involves major nations, rogue states or terrorist groups," he added.

Currently, resources for mounting serious cyber attacks lies with nation states, he maintained. "Although in the future we are likely to see destructive or disruptive cyber attacks that could have an impact analogous to physical hostilities, the vast majority of malicious cyber activity today does not cross this threshold," he said.

Other enemies of the country, such as rogue states and terrorists, are more likely to launch destructive cyber attacks than nations, but they don't have capability at this time to do so, he asserted, although that always won't be the case.

"[W]e stand at an important juncture in the development of the cyber threat," he warned. "More destructive tools are being developed, but have not yet been widely used. And the most malicious actors have not yet obtained the most harmful capabilities."

"But this situation will not hold forever," he continued. "There will eventually be a marriage of capability and intent, where those who mean us harm will gain the ability to launch damaging cyber attacks. We need to develop stronger defenses before this occurs. We have a window of opportunity — of uncertain length — in which to protect our networks against more perilous threats."

Lynn reiterated the Pentagon's position aired in recent weeks about kinetic retaliation for virtual acts. "Just as our military organizes to defend against hostile acts from land, air and sea, we must also be prepared to respond to hostile acts in cyberspace," he declared. "Accordingly, the United States reserves the right, under the laws of armed conflict, to respond to serious cyber attacks with a proportional and justified military response at the time and place of our choosing."

Five "pillars" underlie the department's cyberspace strategy.

Cyberspace will be treated as an operational domain — like land, air, sea and space. Treating cyberspace as a domain means that the military needs to operate and defend its networks, and to organize, train and equip our forces to perform cyber missions.

New operating concepts will be introduced on the department's networks, including active cyber defenses. These active defenses use sensors, software and signatures to detect and stop malicious code before it affects our operations—thereby denying the benefit of an attack.

Cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and the private sector to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure.

Build collective cyber defenses with allies and international partners. Collective cyber defenses will help expand our awareness of malicious activity and speed our ability to defend against ongoing attacks.

Enhance network security to reduce the advantages the attacker presently enjoys relative to the defender on the Internet. Leveraging the nation’s technological and human resources to increase the security of network technology is not only in our best interest, Lynn said. A more secure and resilient internet is in everyone’s interest.

The Pentagon's cyberspace policy drew kudos from some quarters. "Today’s announcement from the Defense Department outlining their cyber security strategy is a welcomed build upon the White House’s International Strategy for Cyberspace," Booz Allen Hamilton Senior Vice President Roger Cressey told Government Security News in an email message.

"As a nation," he continued, "we are constantly under attack from a broad spectrum of cyber adversaries. It is critical for our country to develop an aggressive policy, just as the Pentagon has done today, focusing on accountability and attribution."

"Calling for the United States to move beyond a perimeter security-focused construct to a multi-faceted dynamic defense will better protect the nation's intellectual property, our economic security and national security interests," he added.

http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/23917?c ... tification

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