Cyberspace is a significant feature of modern life. Individuals and communities worldwide connect, socialize, and organize themselves in and through cyberspace. U.S. and international businesses trade goods and services in cyberspace, moving assets across the globe in seconds. The security and effective operation of U.S. critical infrastructure – including energy, banking and finance, transportation, communication, and the Defense Industrial Base – rely on cyberspace, industrial control systems, and information technology that may be vulnerable to disruption or exploitation.

The Department and the nation have vulnerabilities in cyberspace. As the U.S. government and the Department of Defense (DoD) strategize to increase security in cyber, please let this site be a place of reference on cybersecurity-related issues.

Sykipot malware used in attacks on aerospace industry (July 4, 2012)
Security researchers from AlienVault have detected new Sykipot email-based attack campaigns

Flame: Massive cyber-attack discovered, researchers say (May 31, 2012)
A complex targeted cyber-attack that collected private data from countries such as Israel and Iran has been uncovered, researchers have said. The malware is said to have infected over 600 specific targets.

Meet ‘Flame,’ The Massive Spy Malware Infiltrating Iranian Computers (May 28, 2012)
A massive, highly sophisticated piece of malware has been newly found infecting systems in Iran and elsewhere and is believed to be part of a well-coordinated, ongoing, state-run cyberespionage operation. The malware, discovered by Russia-based antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab, is an espionage toolkit that has been infecting targeted systems in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, the Israeli Occupied Territories and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa for at least two years.

NASA, Air Force and Harvard Computers Hacked by ‘The Unknowns’ (May 4, 2012)
A previously unknown hackers‘ group calling themselves “The Unknowns” has compromised websites and obtained documents from NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the French Ministry of Defense, the European Space Agency, the Bahrain Ministry of Defense, the Thai Royal Navy and Harvard University’s School of Public Health.

Occupying the Information High Ground: Chinese Capabilities for Computer Network Operations and Cyber Espionage (March 7, 2012)
Prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission by Northrop Grumman Corp

DOD wants in on protecting civilian infrastructure (Feb. 28, 2012)
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter told the security industry at the RSA Conference that protecting cyberspace is a cooperative effort between the government and the private sector, and that the Defense Department is preparing to play an active role in both military and civilian systems.

The Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative
http://www.whitehouse.gov/cybersecurity/comprehensive-national-cybersecurity-initiative

President Obama has identified cybersecurity as one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation, but one that we as a government or as a country are not adequately prepared to counter. Shortly after taking office, the President therefore ordered a thorough review of federal efforts to defend the U.S. information and communications infrastructure and the development of a comprehensive approach to securing America’s digital infrastructure.

The CNCI consists of a number of mutually reinforcing initiatives with the following major goals designed to help secure the United States in cyberspace:

U.S. says will boost its cyber arsenal
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/07/us-cyber-usa-offensive-idUSTRE7A640520111107

The Pentagon's advanced research arm said Monday it is boosting efforts to build offensive cyber arms for possible keyboard-launched U.S. military attacks against enemy targets.

Anticipating the Pearl Harbor of the digital age
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2015625125_edit18cyber.html

Civilian and military leaders are starting to ask what kind of cyberattacks equate to traditional military attacks on U.S. citizens. In the parsing of U.S. interests that demand a military response, where might digital assaults fit in?

Cyber Weapons: The New Arms Race
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/cyber-weapons-the-new-arms-race-07212011.html

The Pentagon, the IMF, Google, and others have been hacked. It’s war out there, and a cyber-weapons industry is exploding to arm the combatants.

Interview With Deputy Defense Secretary Lynn, PBS Newshour, 7:00 PM
PBS - Interview with Deputy Defense Secretary Lynn

DOD Cyber Strategy: http://www.defense.gov/news/d20110714cyber.pdf

On Cyber Warfare Command and Control Systems
http://www.dodccrp.org/events/9th_ICCRTS/CD/papers/118.pdf
During the past two years researchers have developed a prototype cyber warfare command and control system to demonstrate that defense-in-depth can be taken to a new level that is active and anticipatory rather than passive and reactive.

Lynn Assesses NATO’s Cybersecurity Progress (DOD, Jan. 25, 2011)
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62569

NATO is moving ahead with plans to protect the alliance’s cyberspace domain, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said here today.

United States joins NATO’s cyber defence research center in Estonia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/united-states-joins-natos-cyber-defence-research-center-in-estonia/2011/11/16/gIQASfU6QN_story.html

The United States has joined NATO’s cyber defense research center in Estonia that works on ways to combat cyber attacks. The United States will help fund the center, and its scientists and cyber defense experts will be able to both study and teach at the center’s premises in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

Cybercommand chief opposes U.N. net control ‘Government survivability’ issue (October 20, 2011)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/20/cybercommand-chief-opposes-un-net-control/?page=all

The commander of the U.S. Cyber Command said Thursday that he does not favor giving the United Nations the power to regulate the Internet. Some regulations are needed to protect critical networks that control electrical power, banking, transportation and other key elements of society, Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who is also director of the National Security Agency, said after a speech to a security conference.