Military Asserts Right To Respond To Cyberattacks 177
Hugh Pickens writes "AP reports that National Security Agency director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander says the US should counter computer-based attacks swiftly and strongly and act to thwart or disable a threat even when the attacker's identity is unknown. 'Even with the clear understanding that we could experience damage to our infrastructure, we must be prepared to fight through in the worst case scenario,' wrote Alexander in a 32-page Senate questionnaire he answered in preparation for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination to head Cyber Command. Alexander offered a limited but rare description of offensive US cyber activities, saying the US has 'responded to threats, intrusions and even attacks against us in cyberspace,' and has conducted exercises and war games, adding that it is unclear whether or not those actions have deterred criminals, terrorists or nations."
Tell me again... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are essential systems connected to the internet?
So what's new? (Score:2, Insightful)
When we confirm much of it is coming from China... (Score:5, Insightful)
... will we realize that we should maybe consider possibly not putting nearly all of our business there?
I realize we need china to support American materialism/consumerism. A cultural revolution could change that, though. I would much rather buy less, but of higher quality, as produced by my fellow citizens -- keeping the dollars in our own country and filling the bank accounts of people who otherwise wouldn't have had a job and would want my dollars anyway.
Something to think about... When you buy American, you reinvest in your fellow citizens. I'm not a champion of nationalism, but we are far from world unity and the last thing our country needs is to keep sending our dollars elsewhere.
When the one-world utopia happens, I'm all for it.
Preemptive strike on Adobe? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm concerned that Reader and Flash will facilitate making my PC part of that attack on the government. And if Joshua taught me anything it was to instead play a nice game of chess. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/ [imdb.com]
Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China (Score:2, Insightful)
Military means physical, keep em in their boxes (Score:1, Insightful)
The government should do "something" to ensure cyber intrusions are "dealt with" but why does the military have to have anything to do with that?
Give the job to a new separate federal body, preferably with a lot more transparency and accountability than the military
Re:So what's new? (Score:2, Insightful)
As was stated above, its stupid that so many key systems are connected to the Internet (i.e. why power stations aren't mandated to have a separate network for critical computers to their word processing/Internet browsing computers is beyond me), but that is the way it is.
Why is anything sensitive connected to the web? (Score:2, Insightful)
The U.S. Military has extremely expensive equipment. How hard would it be to isolate their infrastructure on something not available on the World Wide Web? They Have SATELLITE NETWORKS! Put the public stuff on the world wide web, and keep the MILITARY INTRANET cord free from the web!
Re:Slippery slope... (Score:2, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope
Some curious 12 year old tests a port-scanner he found from a forum and thought it was cool to be geeky and like the cool hacker kids. USA detects it as a "cyberattack" and bombs the house he and his sisters and parents live at. Justified?
Some curious 12 year old tests a port-scanner he found from a forum and thought it was cool to be geeky and like the cool hacker kids. USA detects it as a "cyberattack" and bombs the house the proxy he used at is and the family that lives there. Justified?
Some curious 12 year old tests a port-scanner he found from a forum and thought it was cool to be geeky and like the cool hacker kids. USA detects it as a "cyberattack" and shutdowns all the internet connections to the country. Justified?
Some curious 12 year old tests a port-scanner he found from a forum and thought it was cool to be geeky and like the cool hacker kids. USA detects it as a "cyberattack" and shutdowns all the domains in the country (ICANN). Justified?
There's so many ways it can go wrong and so little ways it can go right. It's no wonder that US tries to keep ICANN to themselves, even while EU keeps asking to give the control to UN or independent body...