Crossroads Blog | Institute National Security and Counterterrorism

Current Affairs, Cyber Command, Cyber Exploitation, Stuxnet

Cyber Roundup (7/1): A cyber branch of the military, crossing the cyber Rubicon, and Stuxnet’s termination date

You know the deal . . . a survey of the past week's recent cyber news.

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Eric Chabrow wrote for GovInfo Security and had a very interesting suggestion: create a cyber branch of the military.  The general idea, concocted by two Army officers, was to "add[] an efficient and effective cyber branch alongside the Army, Navy and Air Force [that] would provide our nations with the capability to defend our technological infrastructure and conduct offensive operations."  Of course, we already have CyberComm, which is currently under Strategic Command.

Good idea, but it seems unlikely.  Better short term step would be to upgrade CyberComm to full combatant command status.

I'm even more intrigued by the idea of making the private sector a supported command.  AirForceMagazine had a quote from Jason Healey on the concept. 

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Misha Glenny had an op-ed in the New York Times about the ramifications of Stuxnet.  Glenny argued that "Washington has begun to cross the Rubicon" by releasing Stuxnet, possibly kickstarting a new arms race and hurting our ability to negotiate a favorable cyber treaty.

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Richard Esposito reported for ABC News on comments from the head of MI5.  Specifically, the MI5 director general said that the British were facing "astonishing" cyber espionage on an "industrial scale." 

One guess on who the perpetrator is.

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Jeremy Herb for The Hill on Stuxnet's termination date.

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Mark Clayton reported for the Christian Science Monitor on how US ICS systems have experienced "a three-year surge in cyberattacks, according to a new government report."  Clayton noted that the numbers may be exaggerated because of a greater reporting effort.

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Very interesting article on CyberComm written by Nextgov's Aliya Sternstein.  The article explored CyberComm's efforts to recruit new talent, integrate that talent into the existing military framework, and ultimately retain that talent.

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