US could respond to cyber-attack with conventional weapons

[joeblow]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... apons.html

In an effort to lay down military guidelines for the age of internet warfare, President Barack Obama's administration has been formalising rules on cyberspace amid growing concern about the reach of hackers.

Defence company Lockheed Martin, the biggest supplier to the Pentagon, admitted over the weekend that its computer networks had been subjected to a sustained attack, though it said security had not been seriously compromised.

The White House's strategy statement on cybersecurity said the United States "will respond to hostile acts in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country".

"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 May 16 document said.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan confirmed that the White House policy did not rule out a military response to a cyber-attack.

"A response to a cyber incident or attack on the US would not necessarily be a cyber-response," he said. "All appropriate options would be on the table if we were attacked, be it cyber."

Col Lapan said that the Pentagon was also drawing up an accompanying cyber-defence strategy to respond to attacks on government computer networks, power grids or other utilities.

The Wall Street Journal reported that that document would classify major cyber-attacks as acts of war, paving the way for possible military retaliation.

The strategy was intended in part as a warning to foes that may try to sabotage the US electricity grid, subways or pipelines, officials said.

"If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks," a military official told the newspaper.

The new strategy in the US is likely to mean that Nato would have to devise its own rules or response to cyber-attacks. The alliance would have to examine whether or not its principle of collective defence will apply to online warfare.

The US, while stepping up defences, is also believed to be pursuing cyber-attacks of its own. Iran has accused the United States and Israel of last year launching Stuxnet, a worm that reportedly wreaked havoc on computers in the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear program. Both the US and Israel declined to comment on Stuxnet.

A new study released by the Center for a New American Society identified the United States, Britain, France, Israel, Russia and China as the leaders in cyber-war, with Moscow and Beijing viewing cyber-attacks as an attractive option in the event of a major conflict.