[Infowarrior] - US Air Force: Looking for a few good cyber warriors

[Richard Forno]

US Air Force: Looking for a few good cyber warriors
Military wants to fortify cyberspace against China
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco → More by this author
Published Wednesday 5th March 2008 22:11 GMT

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/05/air_force_cyber_command/

Uncle Sam wants you ... to become a cyberspace warrior.

In a document released this week, the US Air Force is laying out plans for a
new cyber command, which is scheduled to become operational in October. It
tries to make the case that the ability to wage war and parry attacks over
electronic networks is crucial to maintaining national security.

"Controlling cyberspace is the prerequisite to effective operations across
all strategic and operational domains - securing freedom from attack and
freedom to attack," the document, titled Air Force Cyber Command Strategic
Vision, states. "We will develop and implement plans for maturing and
expanding cyberspace operations as an Air Force core competency."

Its definition of cyberspace is considerably broader than that of many in
the security field, encompassing electronic communications that take place
over the internet, but also those in the air and space. That includes
conducting operations in the electromagnetic spectrum, presumably to fight
against electromagnetic pulse attacks, which could disrupt the nation's
electronic devices by setting off a high-altitude nuclear blast.

"Cyberspace attacks can be conducted on an adversary's terrestrial, airborne
and space-based communication infrastructure as well as his forces,
equipment and logistics," the document (PDF here) says. Other areas of
expertise include sensor disruption, data manipulation, decision support
degradation, command and control disruption and weapon system degradation.

The document is the latest push by US military leaders for more authority
and funding for cyberspace. The campaign has been ramping up amid a growing
number of intelligence disclosures that finger the People's Republic of
China as a threat to the US communications infrastructure.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon released an assessment of China's military
might that included cautionary statements about attacks to numerous computer
networks, including some belonging to the US government. While it remained
unclear if the intrusions were conducted by the People's Liberation Army,
"developing capabilities for cyberwarfare is consistent with authoritative
PLA writings on this subject," the report warned.

Additionally, Defense Department officials speaking on Capitol Hill last
week said enemies are keenly aware of the government's dependence on the
internet and continue to look for ways to exploit it.

And according to Federal Computer Week, President Bush issued a classified
directive in January designed to fortify government networks, including
possible offensive tactical maneuvers.

While some may see the military push as little more than a power grab, Alan
Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, is not among them. He
says the US military leadership was slow to act on intelligence reports in
1990s that the Russian KGB had founded a school for cyber hacking. He says
it's important leaders don't make similar mistakes in response to
intelligence reports concerning China.

"The reason that we're willing to spend so much money right now is that the
Chinese in particular had visible and massive success in not only
penetrating our systems and stealing highly sensitive military information
but also taking over our systems so they can control them in the future," he
says. "It's essential that we do this." ®