US unveils cyber defence strategy

The Pentagon has rolled out a strategy for strengthening US cyber capabilities and addressing threats and attacks in cyberspace.

“In the 21st Century, bits and bytes can be as threatening as bullets and bombs,” Deputy Defence Secretary William Lynn said, unveiling the plan.

The strategy calls for the Pentagon to treat cyberspace in a similar manner to domains like land, air and sea.

The Pentagon meanwhile said it suffered a large cyber attack in March.

About 24,000 files containing Pentagon data were stolen from a defence industry computer network in March, Mr Lynn said, marking one of the largest cyber attacks in US history.

Extracting files

He offered few details but said he believed the attacker to have been a foreign government. Previous cyber attacks have been blamed on China or Russia.

“We have a pretty good idea” who did it, he said in an interview with the Associated Press news agency prior to a speech at the National Defense University.

In his speech, Mr Lynn said cyber attacks in the future would not only focus on stealing data but also damaging US defences or even causing deaths.

He added that virtual intruders have previously tried to extract files related to missile tracking systems and the Joint Strike Fighter.

Though nations like China and Russia have been blamed for many previous cyber attacks, the Pentagon fears terrorist groups could eventually strike American computer networks and steal data.

“Keystrokes originating in one country can impact the other side of the globe in the blink of an eye,” Mr Lynn said.

He added that information technology has become so important to the US government that it “virtually guarantees that future adversaries will target our dependence on it”.

Mr Lynn said the Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace was defensive, countering earlier criticism that the strategy might be too aggressive.

In a release accompanying the new strategy, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said it was “critical to strengthen our cyber capabilities to address the threats we’re facing”.

The news comes one month after the Pentagon said it was building its own “scale model” of the internet to carry out cyber war games.