Good day for cyber news!
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On September 9th, 2012, the New York Times put out an editorial titled “A New Kind of Warfare.” The editorial considered the United States’ transition from defensive cybersecurity efforts to offensive cybersecurity efforts. In doing so, the NYT argued that this “is potentially dangerous territory” where “[c]rucial questions remain unanswered, including what laws of war would apply to decisions to launch an attack.”
The editorial doesn’t really say anything groundbreaking; offensive cyberweapons are controversial, and their use requires further analysis. Good summary of the issues, however.
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This one is a bit more groundbreaking.
According to Foreign Policy’s John Reed, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps want to “allow front-line troops to request offensive cyber support the same way they currently request artillery and air support.” The model would be similar to the Air Force’s close air support model, routing the request for “cyber fire support . . . through the same chain of command as air or artillery support . . ..”
According to Reed, the Army already has a Cyber Effects Request Format (CERF) which places cyber resources at the combatant command level; this initiative would move that to the tactical level. Moreover, Marine Air Ground Task Forces (MAGTFs) are being given “cyber weaponry to take into battle alongside their rifles, artillery, tanks, helicopters and airplanes.”
Check out the Foreign Policy article here.
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Another interesting Foreign Policy article from John Reed.
This one covered Five Eyes, the intelligence sharing group comprised of the UK, Canada, the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia. According to Reed, the DoD has “reached what Pentagon officials describe [as] a key agreement with some of the United States’ closest international allies to share information in the cyber realm.”
The article goes on to quote several officials who described the new agreement in glowing terms. The key is the enhanced information sharing, which allows member nations to learn about new threats from other member nations before they cause severe damage.
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Finally, an article written by Dawn Lim for Nextgov. The article covered Plan X, DARPA’s cyber battlefield management program. Apparently DARPA received an “unanticipated and overwhelming response from industry and academia” to Plan X, forcing DARPA to reschedule a proposer’s day workshop.
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