Cyberattack danger is growing

Adm. Mike Rogers, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, is warning the dangers of cyberattacks and cyberwarfare are increasing.

“Our nation is being challenged as never before to defend its interests and values in cyberspace,” Adm. Rogers said in a report made public this week. “Adversaries increasingly seek to magnify their impact and extend their reach through cyber exploitation, disruption and destruction.”The four-star admiral is intent on moving quickly “to build our military capabilities” as the key element of “the nation’s war fighting arm in cyberspace,” according to the report, “Beyond the Build: Delivering Outcomes through Cyberspace.”

The Fort Meade, Maryland-based command, co-located with the National Security Agency that Adm. Rogers also directs, is integrating cyberwarfare capabilities into other war-fighting commands for use “when significant cyber attacks against the nation require DoD support,” Adm. Rogers stated in an introduction to the report.

The report says the United States is losing its technology edge to adversaries and competitors in cyberspace. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter confirmed the problem in a speech in St. Louis Wednesday.

“Nations like Russia and China are modernizing their militaries to try to close the technology gap and erode our superiority in every domain — air, land, sea, space and cyberspace,” Mr. Carter said in a speech. “And at the same time, our reliance on things like satellites and the Internet has led to real vulnerabilities that our adversaries are eager to exploit.”

Cyber Command has been bogged down in legal restrictions since it was created in 2009. Obama administration policymakers have sought to curb the command’s authority and rules of engagement because some officials oppose giving the a military command a large say in one of the most critical national security arenas. Instead, the White House has designated the Department of Homeland Security, which others argue lacks the expertise of Cyber Command and the NSA, the lead agency in government cybersecurity.

Beyond defending against attacks, the U.S. Cyber Command is prepared to “conduct offensive cyber operations” that will “shape our operating environment in peace, crisis and war,” the report said. Cyber warriors include commanders who are “always in real or imminent contact with adversaries.” The report says that cyberwarfare forces “must be ready” for action.

“Cyberspace is a dynamic domain which changes every time someone connects a networked device. The only certain feature of this environment is uncertainty, which makes agility a necessity. War-fighting skills remain critical — they just have to be faster and partnered.”

The report provides a rare public look at inside the Cyber Command’s focus and strategy. The command is among the more secretive military units within an increasingly opaque military establishment.

U.S.-Russian friction in the Arctic

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said on Tuesday he is concerned by increased Russian military activity in the Arctic, where Moscow has been seeking to set up bases and expand its influence.

Asked about Russian military operations in the Arctic, Mr. Work said after meetings at the Norwegian Defense Ministry in Oslo that “there is a lot more activity going on in the High North than we have seen in the past several years in terms of aviation activity.”

Meetings with Norwegian and Swedish defense officials discussed how the Russian activities “could potentially cause a problem over time,” he said.

“Russia has made clear its interest in the Arctic, and our interests are like I believe all of my colleagues — that we would like to keep the Arctic non-militarized as much as possible, and that all nations can benefit from it,” Mr. Work said. “We do not want to see some type of big security competition in that region.”

View the original content and more from this author here: http://ift.tt/1UDi9SY

 

from cyber security caucus http://ift.tt/1JWkIFw
via IFTTT