http://www.afa.org/magazine/jan2008/0108dogs.asp By Rebecca Grant Air Force Association January 2008 Vol. 91, No. 1 After years of claims and counterclaims concerning the severity of national security threats in cyberspace, the picture is at last starting to become clear. Recent jousting within cyberspace has provided clues about what to expect from combat in this new domain. For example, China has been positively identified as a source of campaign-style cyber attacks on Department of Defense systems. Russia, moreover, is the prime suspect in last springs notorious cyber assault on Estonia. Outside the military realm, too, cyber attacks are forming a persistent threat to aerospace enterprises and other parts of the US industrial base. More than ever before, cyberspace is on the minds of Americas top leaders. Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, the new head of US Strategic Command, said during his confirmation hearing that attacks impacting our freedom to operate in space and cyberspace pose serious strategic threats. Defending the nation from cyberspace attacks is STRATCOMs missionbut one of the big challenges is assessing the strategic threat and demarcating lines of response. It all begins with knowing the adversary. China is at the top of most lists of nations with advanced cyber capabilityand the will to use it. Because of the overall tenor of military competition with China, every report of Chinese activity raises hackles. In fact, theres been a steady level of reported skirmishing in cyberspace this decade. Tactic No. 1 is near-constant pressure on US government systems. The goal of these attacks is to breach systems and leave behind malicious code capable of redirecting network activity or enabling access to stored datato change it or steal it. Cyber is all about protect it or steal it,'" Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder Jr., commander of 8th Air Force and USAFs point man on cyber issues, said last year. Sometimes cyber attacks take place during more traditional crises. In April 2001, the Chinese were preparing a hacker onslaught during the tense period when a US Navy EP-3 crew was held after making an emergency landing following a midair brush with a Chinese fighter. The FBI cautioned network operators in government and commercial sectors to keep up their guard. Sure enough, in May 2001, Chinese hackers took down the White House Web site for almost three hours with a denial-of-service strike. Since then, the attacks originating from servers in China have grown in sophistication and intensity. In 2003, a barrage of attacks from China hit Pentagon systems. The incursions were notable enough to get their own temporary code name, Titan Rain. In February 2007, officials at Naval Network Warfare Command acknowledged that Chinese attacks had reached the level of a campaign-style, force-on-force engagement, according to Federal Computer Week. Then, last April 26, came the first full-blown cyber assault resembling an act of war. A controversy over moving a bronze statue of a Russian soldier from the center of Tallinn, capital of Estonia, ended with a massive, coordinated assault on Estonias cyber institutions. Many Web sites, both commercial and government, were shut down for days in the highly wired society. [...] __________________________________________________________________ Visit InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/
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