[Infowarrior] - U.S. military to build botnet?

[Richard Forno]

U.S. military to build botnet?
Published: 2008-05-12
http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/737?ref=rss

A colonel in the U.S. Air Force argued in a recent opinion piece that  
the United States needs to build its own collection of computers able  
to digitally "carpet bomb" enemies with a denial-of-service attack.

The capability to overwhelm attackers would help the nation deter  
attacks against its systems, Col. Charles Williamson III, a staff  
judge advocate for the U.S. Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and  
Reconnaissance Agency, stated in an opinion piece in the Armed Forces  
Journal. Military bases could use outdated PCs as nodes on its  
"botnet," replacing their hard drives with a simple flash drives.

"America needs the ability to carpet bomb in cyberspace to create the  
deterrent we lack," Col. Williamson wrote. "America faces increasingly  
sophisticated threats against its military and civilian cyberspace. At  
the same time, America has no credible deterrent, and our adversaries  
prove it every day by attacking everywhere."

The U.S. military has grown more worried about cyber attacks. A year  
ago, online protesters attacked the northern European country of  
Estonia, essentially cutting off online contact to many of the  
nation's businesses and government agencies. Other denial of service  
attacks have shut down news sites and even forced an Israeli company  
to go out of business. While the degree to which nation-states take  
part in such attacks is unknown, the U.S. military has flagged China  
as a major future threat in cyberspace.

In his column, Col. Williamson acknowledges that using a botnet  
against attackers could pose serious legal issues in international  
circles. Botnets frequently use compromised systems owned by private  
groups and allies of the United States.

"The biggest challenge will be political. How does the U.S. explain to  
its best friends that we had to shut down their computers? The best  
remedy for this is prevention. The U.S. and its allies need to engage  
in a robust joint endeavor to improve net defense and intelligence to  
minimize this risk."

In the past, governments have been able to take selective military  
actions against threats operating in neutral, or on the edge, of  
another nation's territory, Col. Williamson stated.