US Pentagon to treat cyber-attacks as 'acts of war'

US Pentagon to
treat cyber-
attacks as 'acts of
war'
The US is set to publish
plans that will categorise
cyber-attacks as acts of
war, the Pentagon says.
In future, a US president
could consider economic
sanctions, cyber-
retaliation or a military
strike if key US computer
systems were attacked,
officials have said
recently.
The planning was given
added urgency by a
cyber-attack last month
on the defence
contractor, Lockheed
Martin.
A new report from the
Pentagon is due out in a
matter of weeks.
"A response to a cyber-
incident or attack on the
US would not necessarily
be a cyber-response. All
appropriate options
would be on the table,"
Pentagon spokesman Col
Dave Lapan told
reporters on Tuesday.
Col Lapan confirmed the
Pentagon was drawing
up a cyber defence
strategy, which would be
ready in two to three
weeks.
Cyber-attacks from
foreign nations that
threaten widespread US
civilian casualties, like
cutting off power
supplies or shutting down
emergency-responder
networks, could be
treated as an act of
aggression under the
new policy.
But the plan does not
mention how the US may
respond to cyber-
attackers, such as
terrorists, who are not
acting for a nation state.
'All necessary means'
The Pentagon's planning
follows an international
strategy statement on
cyber-security, issued by
the White House on 16
May.
The US would "respond to
hostile acts in cyberspace
as we would to any other
threat to our country",
stated the White House in
plain terms.
"We reserve the right to
use all necessary means -
diplomatic, informational,
military, and economic - as
appropriate and
consistent with
applicable international
law, in order to defend
our nation, our allies, our
partners and our
interests."
The Wall Street Journal
quoted a military official
as saying: "If you shut
down our power grid,
maybe we will put a
missile down one of your
smokestacks."
White House officials said
consideration of a military
response to a cyber-
attack would constitute a
"last resort", after other
efforts to deter an
attack had failed, the
New York Times
newspaper reported.
Sophistication of hackers
One of the difficulties
strategists are grappling
with is how to track
down reliably the cyber-
attackers who
deliberately obscure the
origin of their incursions.
The sophistication of
hackers and frequency of
the attacks came back
into focus after an attack
on arms-maker Lockheed
Martin on 21 May.
Lockheed said the
"tenacious" cyber-attack
on its network was part
of a pattern of attacks on
it from around the world.
The worst cyber-attack
against the US military
occurred in 2008, when
malicious software on a
flash drive
commandeered
computers at US Central
Command.
The US defence
department estimates
that more than 100
foreign intelligence
organizations have
attempted to break into
American networks.
The US is also accused of
using cyber warfare
against other nations. In
2010 Iran accused the US
of helping to develop
Stuxnet, a software
worm aimed at controlling
systems in Iranian nuclear
plants.