Pentagon Seeking Offensive Cyber CapabilitiesFebruary 11, 2010

 

The recent imbroglio between Google and China over cyber-attacks underscores the reality that the computer networks of American companies and the U.S. military are under attack. The recent creation of the U.S. Cyber Command is considered an important step in erecting coordinated defenses against these attacks, which involve espionage and other malicious activity.

But Pentagon officials privately acknowledged that the U.S. is also busy developing its own offensive cyber-warfare capabilities, and in some cases, deploying them, according to a report in Time. "You have to be very careful about what you say in this area," a top Pentagon cyber-warrior told Time. "But you can tell there's something going on because the services are putting their money there and contractors are going after it in a big way."

According to a handbook the Pentagon calls "Information Operations," the Joint Chiefs of Staff want the power to debilitate an enemy network "so badly that it cannot perform any function."

At the same time, the U.S. military wants to trick enemies by "manipulating their perception of reality," making them believe they are controlling their networks when, in fact, they have lost control. Time notes that how this strategy will be executed is classified, but a rough outline can be gleaned from the few contracts and budget documents slowly entering the public sphere.

Some of the offensive operations, according to Time, include the following:

  • The U.S. Air Force and the Dominant Cyber Offensive Engagement program is seeking to penetrate a system and to sit there undetected for years while gathering useful data that the military did not previously know even existed.
  • U.S. defense experts want the ability to control all the functions of an enemy system through U.S. military keyboards.
  • The Army is looking into ways of capturing and interpreting data as it travels across adversaries’ networks.
  • The U.S. Navy is developing "a non-lethal, non-attributable system designed to offer non-kinetic offensive information operation solutions," according to a Pentagon budget document.

Cyber defenses are no longer enough, according to experts, to protect U.S. computer networks. "Unless we find a way to use offensive capabilities as part of a deterrence or strategic defense, we will be unable to defeat these opponents," said James Lewis, a cyber-warfare expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.