Cyberwar
April 22nd, 2009 - 8:45 am
Here’s a long overdue move:
While no final decisions have been made, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to recommend the creation of a new military command to face the growing threat from cyber warfare, a senior U.S. official told NBC News on Tuesday.
According to the official, the program would not be on the level of a separate combatant command. Instead, the likely recommendation would be to create a “sub-unified command” that would focus entirely on combating cyber warfare but exist under the current Strategic Command.
From everything I’ve read, we’ve been playing far too much defense on cyber security — and even that not very well. Still, this is a step in the right direction.
My guess is that this has existed for long enough and now is the time when people not in the know are calling for it, so it can be publicly acknowledged to very mild fanfare and less covert funding (both of which are good politics at little cost.) Still, I agree it’s a damn good idea.
When I think about all the vulnerability that can exist in the multitude of systems that are supposed to be invulnerable to outside influence, I realize just how dangerous hackers could be. Train switches, Visa cards, streetlights, and the electrical grid can’t handle many foul ups before some serious damage could occur. Add weather information and air traffic control systems and you have some great targets for mischief. And then there are the military targets….