[ISN] Pentagon to boost cybersecurity force

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-to-boost-cybersecurity-force/2013/01/19/d87d9dc2-5fec-11e2-b05a-605528f6b712_story.html

By Ellen Nakashima
The Washington Post
January 27, 2013

The Pentagon has approved a major expansion of its cybersecurity force over the 
next several years, increasing its size more than fivefold to bolster the 
nation’s ability to defend critical computer systems and conduct offensive 
computer operations against foreign adversaries, according to U.S. officials.

The move, requested by the head of the Defense Department’s Cyber Command, is 
part of an effort to turn an organization that has focused largely on defensive 
measures into the equivalent of an Internet-era fighting force. The command, 
made up of about 900 personnel, will expand to include 4,900 troops and 
civilians.

Details of the plan have not been finalized, but the decision to expand the 
Cyber Command was made by senior Pentagon officials late last year in 
recognition of a growing threat in cyberspace, said officials, who spoke on the 
condition of anonymity because the expansion has not been formally announced. 
The gravity of that threat, they said, has been highlighted by a string of 
sabotage attacks, including one in which a virus was used to wipe dat a from 
more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company last summer.

The plan calls for the creation of three types of forces under the Cyber 
Command: “national mission forces” to protect computer systems that undergird 
electrical grids, power plants and other infrastructure deemed critical to 
national and economic security; “combat mission forces” to help commanders 
abroad plan and execute attacks or other offensive operations; and “cyber 
protection forces” to fortify the Defense Department’s networks.

[...]


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