Category Archives: Cyber Command

Adm. Mike Mullen: Cyber Command should be empowered to go on offensive

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The push to allow Cyber Command to go on the offensive is welcomed by former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, adding that nation-states that have targeted the U.S. need to pay a “fairly significant price” for their actions. “I’ve thought for some time we were going to have to go on offense,” Mullen told CyberScoop. “Our training says until the enemy starts to pay a price, it pretty much has an open runway. I think that line has to be drawn, and we have to respond, and they need to pay a fairly significant price for what they’re doing.” Mullen said he is comfortable with U.S. Cyber Command taking on these offensive measures as part of its rise to a unified combatant command. The unit was officially given that distinction in May. His comments come as he assumes the chair position at the newly formed […]

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Private sector warms to U.S. Cyber Command carrying out ‘hack backs’

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The U.S. government should decide how to retaliate against the worst attacks on the country’s private sector, and when appropriate, the military’s hacking unit should hit back, three experts said Monday. The controversial idea entails taking the fight to nefarious actors by attacking their computer network in-kind, probing for exfiltrated data and employing measures to retrieve or destroy stolen information. The three individuals, with experience in the private sector, intelligence community and military, spoke at a panel organized by APCO. They concurred that if companies feel compelled to hack back, they should delegate any potential response to the government. If retaliation is warranted, U.S. Cyber Command should carry it out. “I think if it’s going to happen, it’s best in the hands of the government,” said Sean Weppner, chief strategy officer at NISOS Group and a former DOD cyber officer. No company has the intelligence, offensive tools and contextual understanding of the […]

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Inside ‘Project Indigo,’ the quiet info-sharing program between banks and U.S. Cyber Command

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A secret information sharing agreement between the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and U.S. Cyber Command reveals the blurring line between the country’s public and private sectors as the U.S. government becomes increasingly receptive to launching offensive hacking operations. The pilot program, codenamed “Project Indigo,” recently established a confidential information sharing channel for a subunit of FS-ISAC known as the Financial Systemic Analysis & Resilience Center (FSARC). That subunit shares “scrubbed” cyberthreat data, including malware indicators, with the Fort Meade-based Cyber Command, according to current and former U.S. officials. Project Indigo also provides data to the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Treasury. However, those agencies were already getting data from the banks, which is narrowly leveraged for defensive measures. The broad purpose of Project Indigo is to help inform U.S. Cyber Command about nation-state hacking aimed at banks. In practice, this intelligence is independently evaluated and, if appropriate, […]

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Inside the U.S.’ new state-of-the-art cyberwarfare bunker

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The command post for any future U.S.-backed cyberwar is now officially open. Last week, NSA and U.S. Cyber Command leaders posed together and smiled for pictures during a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of a new, state-of-the-art spy bunker named the “Integrated Cyber Center,” or ICC. Bland in name alone, the groundbreaking facility located inside Fort Meade in Maryland represents the latest step taken by the federal government to equip U.S. spies and a growing force of “cyberwarriors” with the physical infrastructure necessary to combat foreign threats online. Hackers linked to Russia, China, North Korea and Iran have each respectively penetrated important U.S. political groups, government agencies, entertainment studios and U.S. energy companies in recent years. These types of breaches have led lawmakers to openly question whether the federal government is doing enough to deter hackers. “Today we are at the dawn of a new era, facing the reality of wars […]

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Trump administration may throw out the approval process for cyberwarfare

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Members of the White House’s National Security Council are pushing to rescind Presidential Policy Directive 20, an important policy memorandum that currently guides the approval process for government-backed cyberattacks, three current U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell CyberScoop. The effort is driven in part by a desire from some NSC staff to create a more streamlined channel for military leaders to get their offensive cyber operations greenlit, insiders familiar with the matter said. The sources spoke under the condition of anonymity to freely discuss sensitive national security matters. The move comes as lawmakers openly question whether U.S. Cyber Command, the nation’s premier cyber warfare unit, is hamstrung from responding to Russian meddling due to bureaucratic red tape. CyberScoop previously reported that multiple congressional committees are considering policies that could empower the military’s cyber mission. But the push for change faces resistance from the intelligence community and several other federal agencies involved in cybersecurity. Senior […]

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Trump’s NSA nominee promises to ‘follow the law’ in 2nd confirmation hearing

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Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, the current head of Army Cyber Command, took another step Thursday toward taking over the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. The public Senate Intelligence Committee hearing featured few pointed questions, as might be expected from a panel that does a lot of its work behind closed doors.The hearing lasted less than one hour. Only eight of the committee’s 15 members attended. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved Nakasone’s nomination earlier this week. The Intelligence Committee is likely to approve Nakasone’s nomination in the coming days, setting it up for a vote on the Senate floor. The job would put him in the unique and powerful position of guiding cyber-espionage and cyberwarfare for the United States. The current NSA director, Adm. Mike Rogers, is expected to depart from the job soon. One of the few exchanges of real substance Thursday saw Ron Wyden, D-Ore., ask Nakasone about whether he […]

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NSA chief ripped by Congress for cyberwar process he doesn’t control

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President Donald Trump has not specifically directed Adm. Michael Rogers to “disrupt Russian cyberthreats where they originate,” the NSA director and head of U.S. Cyber Command said during a congressional hearing Tuesday. “I need a policy decision that indicates there is specific direction to do that,” Rogers said before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The president ultimately would make this decision in accordance with a recommendation from the Secretary of Defense.” The comments come as multiple investigations looking into the Kremlin’s expansive meddling in the 2016 Presidential election continue to unearth new information. “I believe that [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin has clearly come to the conclusion ‘There’s little price to pay here, and that therefore I can continue this activity’,” Rogers told lawmakers. Speaking in front of Congress as leader of U.S. Cyber Command, Rogers noted that he is currently able to direct operators to take certain actions against Russia […]

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NSA chief ripped by Congress for cyberwar process he doesn’t control

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President Donald Trump has not specifically directed Adm. Michael Rogers to “disrupt Russian cyberthreats where they originate,” the NSA director and head of U.S. Cyber Command said during a congressional hearing Tuesday. “I need a policy decision that indicates there is specific direction to do that,” Rogers said before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The president ultimately would make this decision in accordance with a recommendation from the Secretary of Defense.” The comments come as multiple investigations looking into the Kremlin’s expansive meddling in the 2016 Presidential election continue to unearth new information. “I believe that [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin has clearly come to the conclusion ‘There’s little price to pay here, and that therefore I can continue this activity’,” Rogers told lawmakers. Speaking in front of Congress as leader of U.S. Cyber Command, Rogers noted that he is currently able to direct operators to take certain actions against Russia […]

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Next NSA director is chosen by Trump

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President Donald Trump plans to nominate the head of Army Cyber Command, Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, to be the next NSA director and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, White House cybersecurity coordinator Rob Joyce announced on Twitter late Tuesday. Nakasone is a respected military professional who has gained a reputation for pioneering the development of the the U.S.’s premier cyberwarfare force. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first Asian-American to hold the position. NSA Director Mike Rogers is expected to retire this spring. CyberScoop, The Washington Post, Cipher Brief and Politico all reported in recent weeks that Nakasone was the favorite to land the job. If confirmed, he will bring an innate familiarity to the role given his recent work with U.S. Cyber Command, a partner organization to NSA, which is similarly headquartered at Fort Meade military base in Maryland. Cyber Command includes the cyber mission teams of each military service branch, including the […]

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Here’s what the military’s ‘flight simulator’ for cyber warfare might look like

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The U.S. Army is experimenting with all different types of training for its cyber commands, including the creation of virtual classrooms for its “cyber warriors.” The training is part of the Army’s persistent cyber training exercise, also known as PCTE.  The exercise offers a view of how the military might one day educate future U.S. Cyber Command recruits. Recently ordered to be raised to its own unified command, U.S. Cyber Command is an increasingly powerful and influential military component involved in both offensive and defensive cyber operations. When the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) originally issued a request for information about the PCTE nearly two years ago, they described it as: “a training platform that allows cyber mission forces (CMF) to train in emulated network environments … [which] will largely focus on integration of available applications, enabling increased automation to ultimately support multiple simultaneous training […]

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