On October 1st 2009 U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) became a reality. With high expectations and very little fanfare the efforts led by U.S. Strategic Command began to protect the nation from cyber assault. There are reports that the cyber command initiation efforts to date required the reorganization of 40,000 job positions.
An additional 1,000 new jobs are scheduled to be added to cyber command in the not so distant future. The same day the Navy announced it was reorganizing their intelligence gathering capabilities in order to maintain intelligence supremacy in cyberspace. In addition, Gen. C. Robert Kehler, Commander of Air Force Space Command stated that space and cyberspace are intertwined and their integrally connected existence.
At the same time all these military activities were becoming a reality, the Department of Homeland Security said they need to hire 1,000 cyber specialists in the next few years.
Questions about cyber command far outweigh what we know. Very little operational information is publically available. The specifics of Cyber Command’s mission and operational modalities are being closely guarded. However, real-time cyber intelligence has been recognized as a critical element of cyber defense.
Cyber security threats rose nearly threefold last year. Last month, the U.S. Intelligence Director Dennis Blair grouped China, Iran, North Korea and Russia as nations with the ability to “challenge US interests in traditional and emerging ways”. This clearly indicates the magnitude of the cyber threat and the challenge faced by cyber command.
All these activities indicate of how serious the U.S. is taking the growing threats we face in cyberspace. October has been designated Cyber Security awareness month. Is your system fully protected?
FACT — Cyber Command is a subordinate, unified command under the Strategic Command.
FACT — Director of the NSA, (dual-hatted) Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander will receive a promotion to a 4-stars and will be the Nation’s first Cyber commander.
FACT — The latest industry statistics stated that a cyber attack occurs every .25 seconds.
FACT — It is estimated that only about 30 percent of cyber attacks are reported.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Chief Strategist at Netscape
Can anyone cite a US, offensive cyber-warfare victory? Have our hackers done anything besides take down websites?
If someone could assure me that our cyber-warriors could open the floodgates of the three gorges dam on short notice, that would be fracken awesome.
FACT – Estimates are not facts.
Might explain why I saw a web ad banner from the NSA looking for employees (ad didn’t specify positions). Funny seeing a big ad from an agency whose name was once secret.
Some might question putting the mission of cyber security in the hands of an agency whose primary purpose is snooping. Wouldn’t surprise me to hear some grumblings from Congress.
Whose hiring for CyberCommand vendors & must one have a IT background or OK with General Computer Use.
In my case I have PC Basics & Strong Internet BUT NO programming skills.
HOw may I serve CyberCommand?
If we’re serious about cyber security, the first step we should take is to dump Windows (any version) and install SE Linux instead. Mac’s are generally OK (they use a *nix kernel) but Windows machines really are a security risk…
OS’s are generally secure even windows, it’s applications like email programs, web apps and the rest. So you could change operating systems, it will have no impact on your overall security, since most paths of exploitation are OS independent. As a programmer I use Macs because it’s simply more useful TO ME because of it’s technical underpinnings. But to the US military, windows is more important because it has more application vendors to solve regular problems like payroll. That and the average user has experience with windows, which meaning training costs are less.
RE: Chief Strategist at Netscape comment.
That comment would only be true if the Iceberg that sunk Netscape was named MS. If the government had been on the ball about MS “predatory practices” during the browser war, IE would not have gained so much marketshare.
I’m willing to bet that you don’t remember that Netscape is the foundation for Firefox.
JR
I’m am a bit worried about Kevin’s latest business strategy. He’s swung from giving everything away to no giving anything away.
I mean if you wanted to hire Kevin just look at the pitch – no actual cases, no examples of success, not even any examples of failure.
The Us government asked him point blank for examples and all he could do was reference his own opinion and rumors together with statistics that included IP lost due to burning CDs.
CIOs aren’t stupid they run a mile from this sort of stuff.
They’ll end up outsourcing the majority of new jobs to India and China to save costs.
If you are really searching for cyber Gamechangers, check out my cyberwar thought memes and discourse on some of the concepts that most don’t have the balls to discuss in public, research or write about.
Diocyde
http://diocyde.wordpress.com/
Hey, any chance that you can add/expand to the “Cyber” aspect of the site? I’m in school for NetSec and this site is a great resource for info.
Thanks,
Philo
Philo
Contact me through our corporate phone number or at info@technolytics – we have a student support program.
Kevin