Bekker's Blog

Blog archive

Pentagon Adds Cyber-Tools to List of Warfare Options

A few months ago we noted, approvingly, a Vanity Fair article that referred to the Stuxnet worm as "something new under the sun." Author Michael Joseph Gross argued that something previously theoretical had been unleashed and was changing future geo-political calculations.

Evidence supporting Gross' view comes this week in a Washington Post article that asserts that cyber-technologies have been integrated into the formal structure of approved capabilities at the Pentagon in the last few months.

"So whether it's a tank, an M-16 or a computer virus, it's going to follow the same rules so that we can understand how to employ it, when you can use it, when you can't, what you can and can't use," the Post quoted an unnamed senior military official as saying.

According to the Post, the framework covers penetrating foreign computer networks and leaving a cyber-virus that can be activated later (think Stuxnet), studying the cyber-capabilities of adversaries, examining how power plants or other networks operate and leaving beacons for later targeting by viruses, among other things. Some methods require presidential approval, others don't. The framework also apparently makes clear that the Pentagon can respond to cyber-attacks with bullets and bombs, according to the Post.

Take it as one more sign of the maturing status of cyber-tools in the arsenal of the modern nation state.

Posted by Scott Bekker on June 02, 2011


Featured

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Google To Acquire Cloud Startup Wiz for $32 Billion

    Google has announced a pending agreement to acquire Wiz Inc., a cloud security platform, in an all-cash deal worth $32 billion.

  • FTC Expands Microsoft Antitrust Investigation Under Trump Administration

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is pressing ahead with a broad investigation into Microsoft's business practices, an inquiry that began in the final weeks of the Biden administration.

  • Microsoft to Shut Down Skype Services

    Microsoft will discontinue its Skype telecommunications and video calling services on May 5, 2025, marking the end of the platform's decades-long run.