Cyber Warfare Now Official

[Count Bobulescu]

Lot of mention in there of breaking up of corporate relationships.Symantec Hyawei get mentioned a few times. Are the US not afraid more so that they may get a competitive edge rather than industrial espionage? There is a ban on exporting US technology isnt there?

As with any complex matter, there are multiple shades of gray, as opposed to a more simple black or white.

I posted this in the lovely charts and graphs thread a few days ago.

Cyberattacks are happening constantly across the globe, and now you can see what that looks in real-time with this map by the Honeynet Project that shows so many attacks, it looks and feels like it's straight out of an apocalyptic war movie.
Each red dot that pops up when you go to the map represents an attack on a computer. Yellow dots represent honeypots, or systems set up to record incoming attacks. The black box on the bottom says where each attack is coming from as they come in. The data comes from the members of Honeynet Project's network of honeypot sensors that choose to publish the attacks. Not all of members of the project, which has more than 40 chapters around the world, chose to push data, which is why more red dots show up in Europe.

That said, if all the attacks showed up in real-time, there would be a lot more red dots popping up in more places. Even though it only offers a taste, the map gives an astounding sense of how much malware is attacking computer networks.

To see the chart in action, go to map.honeycloud.net.

[fluffybiscuits]

Interesting thanks for that...

[Count Bobulescu]

Here's a TV report and discussion about an ongoing DDS attack on the US banking system. 9 minutes.


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/scien...ber_10-18.html

[Count Bobulescu]

REID TO MOVE CYBER BILL IN LAME-DUCK SESSION. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced Saturday that he plans to try to move a cybersecurity bill that Republicans filibustered this summer during the Nov. lame duck session. Reid’s statement came after a speech by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arguing cyber-attacks pose a major threat to the United States. “My colleagues who profess to understand the urgency of the threat will have one more chance to back their words with action, and work with us to pass this bill,” Reid said in a statement.




The Department of Defense is getting worried about national cybersecurity. Should you? ”American intelligence officials are increasingly convinced that Iran was the origin of a serious wave of network attacks that crippled computers across the Saudi oil industry and breached financial institutions in the United States, episodes that contributed to a warning last week from Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta that the United States was at risk of a ‘cyber Pearl Harbor.’…After Mr. Panetta's remarks on Thursday night, American officials described an emerging shadow war of attacks and counterattacks already under way between the United States and Iran in cyberspace.” Thom Shanker and David E. Sanger in The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/wo...c=nl_wonk&_r=0


BLOOMBERG VIEW: Why you really need to pay attention to cybersecurity policy. ”One of the most pressing military threats facing the U.S. today is one we can't see, and therefore is the most difficult to have a sensible discussion about…There are two prudent ways the government can respond. First, because Congress this year failed to pass the Cybersecurity Act, a bipartisan measure that would have been an important first step, President Barack Obama would be justified in taking the initiative. He could issue an executive order directing regulators to require companies operating critical infrastructure to meet federal cybersecurity standards. The order should follow the spirit of the legislation: Companies should have to meet certain goals, but be given free rein to determine how best to do so. As a partial blueprint, regulators could use the Consensus Audit Guidelines, a set of 20 best- practices developed by government agencies and private-sector cybersecurity experts…Second, Panetta said that the Department of Defense is drawing up new rules of engagement for the age of cyberwarfare. In doing so, it should make clear that the U.S. is prepared to preempt attacks, and to respond with overwhelming force.” Bloomberg View Editorial Board.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...wpisrc=nl_wonk

[Count Bobulescu]

Wanna know how many cyber-troops the Defense Department has? Ask Killer Apps' John Reed, who used public information to tally up the total number of cyber employees, both military and civilian, after the news that the Pentagon wanted to hire another 4,900 cyber-warriors. Reed: "Here are the numbers that are publicly listed on the web for each service's dedicated cyber arms. These forces act as each service's contribution to U.S. Cyber Command and Strategic Command when needed." His list: 24th Air Force: 16,400+ airmen and civilians; Navy Fleet Cyber Command/Tenth Fleet: at least 14,000 sailors and civilians; Marine Cyberspace Command: growing to as many as 800 Marines; Army Cyberspace Command: set to exceed 21,000 soldiers and civilians; U.S. Cyber Command, 900 and set to grow to 4,900 troops and civilians, for a total cyber warrior force of as many as 58,000. Next tasker for Reed? Figuring out the total cyber budget.

[Count Bobulescu]

PENTAGON’S CYBER-WAR RULES OF ENGAGEMENT NEARLY COMPLETE. The Pentagon said it is close to completing its set of rules to guide responses to cyber-attacks, USA Today reports. The rules will “give military commanders clearer authority” in cyber-warfare. In addition, the Defense Department has created 13 teams trained for offensive operations in retaliation to a cyber-attack. “This is all putting the world on notice, particularly the Chinese, that we’re tired of them breaking private companies,” said Richard Bejtlich, chief security officer at Mandiant, a computer security company in in the news recently for its research into Chinese hacking of U.S. companies. Read more

[Count Bobulescu]

Here's a piece from the Economist on "official" Chinese cyber warfare.

CHINA’S SOPHISTICATED HACKERS may be the terror of the Earth, but in fact most of their attacks are rather workaday. America and Russia have hackers at least as good as China’s best, if not better. What distinguishes Chinese cyber-attacks, on anything from governments to Fortune 500 companies, defence contractors, newspapers, think-tanks, NGOs, Chinese human-rights groups and dissidents, is their frequency, ubiquity and sheer brazenness. This leads to an unnerving conclusion.

http://www.economist.com/news/specia...bashed-masters

[C. Flower]

Be prepared for long outages -