“The new directive is the most extensive White House effort to date to wrestle with what constitutes an “offensive” and a “defensive” action in the rapidly evolving world of cyberwar and cyberterrorism.” the report states.
“What it does, really for the first time, is it explicitly talks about how we will use cyber-operations,” a senior administration official said. “Network defense is what you’re doing inside your own networks. . . Cyber-operations is stuff outside that space, and recognizing that you could be doing that for what might be called defensive purposes.”
“An example of a defensive cyber-operation that once would have been considered an offensive act, for instance, might include stopping a computer attack by severing the link between an overseas server and a targeted domestic computer.” the report continues.
Essentially, in the same way the Bush administration employed terms such as “pre-emptive” when considering the invasion of Iraq, the Obama administration has shrouded it’s cyber policies in language that legally allows the military to go on the offensive – except this time the battle ground is cyberspace, which the Pentagon has defined as another military domain to be dominated.
article here :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-signs-secret-cybersecurity-directive-allowing-more-aggressive-military-role/2012/11/14/7bf51512-2cde-11e2-9ac2-1c61452669c3_story.html
“What it does, really for the first time, is it explicitly talks about how we will use cyber-operations,” a senior administration official said. “Network defense is what you’re doing inside your own networks. . . Cyber-operations is stuff outside that space, and recognizing that you could be doing that for what might be called defensive purposes.”
“An example of a defensive cyber-operation that once would have been considered an offensive act, for instance, might include stopping a computer attack by severing the link between an overseas server and a targeted domestic computer.” the report continues.
Essentially, in the same way the Bush administration employed terms such as “pre-emptive” when considering the invasion of Iraq, the Obama administration has shrouded it’s cyber policies in language that legally allows the military to go on the offensive – except this time the battle ground is cyberspace, which the Pentagon has defined as another military domain to be dominated.
article here :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-signs-secret-cybersecurity-directive-allowing-more-aggressive-military-role/2012/11/14/7bf51512-2cde-11e2-9ac2-1c61452669c3_story.html
