Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The next Pearl Harbor could be a Cyberattack!

The Pentagon revealed recently that in March it suffered a foreign government cyberattack resulting in the loss of 24,000 sensitive data files. The military has since been pursuing a new strategy which emphasizes superior defenses of its networks, working with private industry and new measures to prevent the efforts of "malicious insiders."

"We have a pretty good idea" who did it, Deputy SecDef William Lynn said in a speech at the National Defense University.

Most previous cyberattacks in the past have been blamed on China or Russia. The DOD's greatest fear on the matter is that a terrorist group, with less at stake than country, could acquire the resources and ability to penetrate U.S. computer networks to steal data or worse to attack U.S. defenses or even cause deaths as a result.

"If a terrorist group gains disruptive or destructive cybertools, we have to assume they will strike with little hesitation," Lynn said.

During his Senate confirmation hearing last month, new SecDef Leon Panetta said that the next first strike against the U.S. could be a cyberattack that cripples the U.S. power grid, and financial and government systems and likened it to Pearl Harbour. Panetta said that cybersecurity will be one of the main focuses of his tenure at the Pentagon.

"Our networks are really our lifeblood," Marine Gen. James Cartwright, VCJCS. He said the Pentagon currently is focused 90% on defensive measures and only 10% percent on offense. He wants balance reversed and a 50:50 balance for the federal government as a whole.

President Obama signed executive orders earlier in the year that lay out how far military commanders around the globe can go in using cyberattacks and other computer-based operations against enemies and as part of routine espionage. The orders detail when the military must seek presidential approval for a specific cyberattack on an enemy.

A global solution to the problem may be at hand however, GAPSNet the Global Alien Prevention and Surveillance Network is touted by UNETIDA as the most secure computer network ever devised by man and has been used to monitor, defend and attack belligerent aliens by controlling an array of orbital lasers, satellites and telescopes. "It's so advanced, it’s almost sentient at this point," said Colonel “Trojan” Hayter, UNETIDA Cyberspace Operations Commander "nothing on the planet can penetrate it." Col. Hayter denied the notion that GAPSNet is a single Apple Macintosh notebook with a virus intended to be uploaded into a “mothership”.

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