November 16, 2011 – WASHINGTON – The Pentagon laid out its most explicit cyber-warfare policy to date, stating that if directed by the Commander-in-Chief, it will launch “offensive cyber operations” in response to hostile acts against the US. or its facilities. Those hostile acts may include “significant cyber attacks directed against the U.S. economy, government or military,” Defense Department officials stated U.S. official policy in a long-overdue report to Congress released this week. The United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is an armed forces sub-unified command subordinate to United States Strategic Command that was established in 2009 to deal with the growing threat of cyber crimes and inva
sive security protocol intrusions. The U.S. Defense cyber terrorism policy states that: “When warranted, we will respond to hostile attacks in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country. We reserve the right to use all necessary means – diplomatic, informational, military and economic – to defend our nation, our allies, our partners and our interests,” the report stated. In May of this year, the Department of Defense concluded and deemed that the Laws of Armed Conflict, which govern the level of appropriate military action in the face of naked aggression by a foreign power, should also extend to the cyberspace field of operations. In the meantime, the U.S. has joined NATO’s cyber facility in Estonia. The multinational computer center was created in 2008 after Estonia’s government and corporate computer networks came under attack the year before following a dispute with neighboring Russia. U.S. defensive maneauvering in IT technology and security comes in response to what Washington military officials believe will be some of the biggest threats to emerge in the 21st century. The United States will help fund the center, and its scientists and cyber defense experts will be able to both study and teach at the center’s premises in the Estonian capital Tallinn. The U.S. Embassy in Estonia said Wednesday that Poland was also joining the center, which now will have 10 members. Previously, the United States held an observer status at the European facility. –The Extinction Protocol
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Is this like the time Dept_of_Homeland_Sec. shut down those websites that were a “threat” when they sold knock-off designer handbags and watches? Oooh! (sarc)
I wonder what makes something a “hostile act(s) against the US”?
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It’s funny, if all the other countries held this same view: “We reserve the right to use all necessary means – diplomatic, informational, military and economic – to defend our nation, our allies, our partners and our interests”…then there’d be nothing but war, especially with counrties that hold extreme and violent views. The end does not justify the means.
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Why Tallinn? this isn’t explained and has left me exploring the possibilities as to why.
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Isn’t this like closing the door after the cat runs out?
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I wonder what they would constitute a “hostile act”?
Maranatha
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they just don’t get it.
if they are connected then they are vulnerable. I have yet to see a virus put the plug in the receptacle..mo money….
Mike
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The Pervasive Cyber threat that Goes unchallenged
A recent Defense Department report to Congress warned that foreign nations run a “grave risk” if they threaten or launch a large-scale cyber attack on the United States, and it announced for the first time that the Pentagon possesses cyber weapons the president can deploy in the face of such an attack. The report aims to bolster U.S. deterrence against cyber threats but, in fact, highlights weaknesses in our deterrence policy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-insidious-cyberthreat-that-goes-unreported/2011/11/25/gIQAKXdIxN_story.html
U.S. Seizes Domain Names in Counterfeit Crackdown
US authorities have shut down a number of websites in the latest crackdown on online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Torrent Freak, a website about the popular BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, said that more than 130 domain names had been seized in an operation it described as the largest yet. Torrent Freak published a list of 131 domain names which it said had been seized in the past 24 hours. A visitor to the sites is met with a message reading: “This domain name has been seized by ICE — Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court.” It informs visitors that copyright infringement is a federal crime carrying a penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while trafficking in counterfeit goods carries a 10-year sentence and a $2 million dollar fine. The seizure of the websites, part of a campaign known as “Operation in Our Sites,” comes just a few days ahead of Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping day of the year in the United States.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/268012/us-seizes-domain-names-in-counterfeit-crackdown
Britain Prepares Cyber Attacks on Rogue States
GCHQ and the Ministry of Defense are preparing to launch cyber attacks against hostile states and terrorists, the Government has admitted. Two separate units in the Defense Cyber Operations Group are working on an offensive capability to strike back at enemies who are trying to start electronic attacks on critical national infrastructure. They are also likely to come up with computer programs that could disable the conventional or nuclear capabilities of hostile nations. Unveiling the “cyber security strategy”, David Cameron said: “While the internet is undoubtedly a force for social and political good, as well as crucial to the growth of our economy, we need to protect against the threats to our security.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8916960/Britain-prepares-cyber-attacks-on-rogue-states.html
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Southeast Asia: First UN-Backed Simulation of Cyber Attack Takes Place in South-East Asia:
Mass web destruction, spam and malware infection were among the scenarios involved during the first cross-border cyber drill organized by the United Nations and an international partnership against online threats in South-east Asia that aims to build cooperation and improve response measures to cyber attacks. The drill, launched by the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), was a coordinated exercise to assess the security and emergency readiness of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam, also known as the CLMV countries. Each country had a team participating in three simulated cyber security emergency incidents. Teams were required to identify the origin of the attacks, identify possible solutions and mitigation steps, and rectify the damage. The one-day exercise then simulated a cyber attack response linking the response systems of the four countries known as Computer Emergency Response Team/Computer Incident Response Teams (CERT/CIRT), as well as experts from ITU and IMPACT.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40605&Cr=cyber&Cr1=
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**US: Hackers Post Cops Personal Data to Avenge Occupy Movement:
Computer hackers are avenging the Occupy movement by exposing the personal information of police officers who evicted protesters and threatening family-values advocates who led a boycott of an American Muslim television show. In three Internet postings last week, hackers from the loose online coalition called Anonymous published the email and physical addresses, phone numbers and, in some cases, salary details of thousands of law enforcement officers all over the country. The hackers said they were retaliating for police violence during evictions of Occupy protest camps in cities around the country, but law enforcement advocates slammed the disclosures as dangerous. Last week, a hacker calling himself “Exphin1ty” posted the email and physical addresses, phone numbers and encrypted passwords of more than 2,400 police officers and corporate security executives.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/20/hackers-post-cops-personal-data-online/
**US: China Hackers Hit U.S. Chamber:
A group of hackers in China breached the computer defenses of America’s top business-lobbying group and gained access to everything stored on its systems, including information about its three million members, according to several people familiar with the matter. The break-in at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is one of the boldest known infiltrations in what has become a regular confrontation between U.S. companies and Chinese hackers. The complex operation, which involved at least 300 Internet addresses, was discovered and quietly shut down in May 2010. It isn’t clear how much of the compromised data was viewed by the hackers. Chamber officials say internal investigators found evidence that hackers had focused on four Chamber employees who worked on Asia policy, and that six weeks of their email had been stolen. It is possible the hackers had access to the network for more than a year before the breach was uncovered, according to two people familiar with the Chamber’s internal investigation. One of these people said the group behind the break-in is one that U.S. officials suspect of having ties to the Chinese government. The Chamber learned of the break-in when the Federal Bureau of Investigation told the group that servers in China were stealing its information, this person said. The FBI declined to comment on the matter.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204058404577110541568535300.html
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1-20-2012
Hackers take down US government websites
Hacking collective Anonymous shut down the Department of Justice’s website Thursday, along with those of several other organizations that support anti-piracy efforts.
Among the victims: Universal Music Group, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the US Copyright Office.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=254475
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