Cyberattacks from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran are increasingly sophisticated and, until recently, were done with little concern for the consequences, top US Department of Defense cyberleaders told a US Congress committee on Wednesday.
US Army General Paul Nakasone, head of the US Cyber Command, laid out the escalating threats, following a US Navy review released this week that described significant breaches of naval systems and concluded that the service is losing the cyberwar.
Speaking during a subcommittee hearing, Nakasone said that the US is now prepared to use cyberoperations more aggressively to strike back as the country faces growing cyberattacks and threats of interference in next year’s US presidential elections.
The US military learned a lot working with other government agencies to thwart Russian interference in last year’s midterm elections and the focus now has turned to the next election cycle, he said.
The US Navy report underscored long-known cyberthreats from Russia and China that have plagued the US government and its contractors for more than a decade.
It said that there were “several significant” breaches of classified Navy systems and that “massive amounts” of national security data have been stolen.
Data has been stolen from key defense contractors and their suppliers, the report said, adding that “critical supply chains have been compromised in ways and to an extent yet to be fully understood.”
The report, ordered by US Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, concluded that while the navy is prepared to win in conventional warfare, that is not the case for the ongoing cyberwar.
The US federal government in December last year charged two alleged Chinese hackers with breaching computer networks as far back as 2006 and suggested that they could be linked to the theft of personal information from more than 100,000 navy personnel.
In addition, the US was caught off guard by widespread Russian interference in the 2016 election, including the use of social media to influence voters and sow dissent among the electorate.
Lawmakers peppered Nakasone and US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security Kenneth Rapuano with questions about what the military is doing to respond to cyberbreaches, and deter countries like Russia and China.
Rapuano acknowledged that for years the US did not sufficiently respond to cyberattacks by other nations, particularly as the breaches did not rise to the level of a conventional military response.
Deterrence is about imposing consequences and “historically we have not done that,” he said.
That strategy is changing, but officials also have a deliberate approval process for offensive cyberoperations, including some that require presidential approval, he added.
The Pentagon would soon issue a memo outlining how the US National Guard would be able to use department networks and systems to help foil cyberattacks on the US, Rapuano said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in