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Air Force Openly Seeking Cyberweapons
Gunkerty Jeb writes "The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center posted a broad agency announcement (PDF) recently, calling on contractors to submit concept papers detailing technological demonstrations of 'cyberspace warfare operations' capabilities. Among many other things, the Air Force is seeking to obtain the abilities to 'destroy, deny, degrade, disrupt, deceive, corrupt, or usurp the adversaries' ability to use the cyberspace domain for his advantage' and capabilities that would allow them to intercept, identify, and locate sources of vulnerability for threat recognition, targeting, and planning, both immediately and for future operations."
whatever could go wrong ?
That “adversaries” includes us. Especially us.
Good luck knowing what is real in 10 years. Most people already have barely and self-made observations/experiences.
Give everyone else Windows install disks and free licenses. And run our systems on linux.
Might be against the Geneva conventions for torture
on creating a death star start up
I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
Unlike nukes, we all have access to 'cyberweapons'.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
For better or worse, this is a new battlespace, and DOD is talking about it
I mean... He's got the Internet Kill-switch, which seems like it would qualify as being able to: "destroy, deny, degrade, disrupt, deceive, corrupt, or usurp the adversaries' ability to use the cyberspace domain for his advantage"
Ask the NSA if you want to: "intercept, identify, and locate sources of vulnerability for threat recognition, targeting, and planning, both immediately and for future operations."
If you ask me, the Air force should just focus on flying their air planes. Look, I realise that in the Age of Information traditional warfare is becoming obsolete, but does the air force really need cyber weapons? Are they planning on going to war with their own country?!
They'll need to get to work creating something to monitor and regulate all these cyberweapons they're creating. A defense net for the Air Force, a "Net-in-the-Sky", if you will. That should work, right?
Everything is better with chainsaws.
bet the password for the entire system will be cyberweapons12
I think they misunderstood what space we are talking about in cyberspace.
Cypernetic weapons are en vogue again. Probably part of the Air Force's steampunk efforts. Next: Attack Zeppelins!
Air force just wants a bigger piece of the huge bloated military budget.
Cyber warfare? We do that. Now give us the extra Billioooons of dollars.
Fucking waste of money. We can defend our country with volunteers if we are ever attacked (see how well Iraq and Afghanistan held back the US military with just poorly armed volunteers defending their homes and families from the invading army). A standing army is just for imperialist wars, and tyranny against the population.
I'll send them right now. Just click the link and you'll get all the cyberweapons you can handle.
But sadly I have no cyberweapons to sell.
Chemical weapons decanted intestinally from last nights taco fest I have in abundance.
Silence is a state of mime.
We just need to get some of those "eWhore" bots together and use them in coordinated ddos and spam campaigns. Since most foreign people as well as Americans can't resist the urge of nice boobies or wood, all computers would be rendered useless within a few hours of having adware and spyware porn viewers installed.
(see how well Iraq and Afghanistan held back the US military with just poorly armed volunteers defending their homes and families from the invading army).
I know, right? The Iraqis held the Americans off for 21 whole days!
Everything is better with chainsaws.
Subsume the production of all commodity computer equipment in the world. Then introduce firmware that can do all sorts of things with the hardware, hence you would have complete control over your enemy's equipment.
ok, how about some blimps, drop'n sharks with lazers.
Good luck with your volunteers defending their homes after a chemical or biological attack.
The need for these cyber weapons is to defend or stike against hostile nation states such as China. They have HUGE initiatives along those lines and we NEED to step ours up as well.
I'll send em a copy of WinNuke
He slotted the Chinese virus, paused, then drove it home. `Okay,' he said, `we're on..." `Christ on a crutch,' the Flatline said, `take a look at this.' The Chinese virus was unfolding around them. Polychrome shadow, countless translucent layers shifting and recombining. Protean, enormous, it towered above them, blotting out the void. `Big mother,' the Flatline said.
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
Up an atom! ...Better
Up and at them!
Up an atom!
Up and at them!
Up an atom!
Up and at them!
Listening to these people they are all assuming there is some sort of analouge to physical reality to be had when no such thing exists.
"Resources" are meaningless. Your advasary does not need aircraft carriers, subs and tanks. A dialup modem is just as capable of bringing down power grids as is a well connected multi-gigabit pipe at every IXP.
One smart, board or lucky person located anywhere can cause you just as much grief as an army of lesser such people.
Denial of capabilities means nothing when those capabilities have already been used against you and you just don't know it yet. In fact any useless attempt to disrupt networks or capabilities could very well trigger a failsafe response. The only way to deny capabilities is to help your side secure their shit.
"Mapping of networks" Oh yea cause if you know where an attack is coming from you can turn it off and that will fix everything... knowledge of network topology is meaningless.
"Access to cyberspace domain, information, networks, systems, or devices"
Its called hacking. If you ask nicely a three letter agency might share their cache of 0-days with you...but my guess they will refuse to waste their precious capability on "cyber war" bullshit.
"Denial of service on cyberspace resources, current/future operating systems, and network devices" ...
All you need is a low orbit ion cannon, a few rofolcopters on your lolz craft carriers and nobody will mess with you... Denial of service is more military thinking with no useful analouge to any useful property of "cyberspace".
"Data manipulation"
Notepad..
"Ability to control cyberspace effects at specified times and places"
As if time and space mean anything in cyberspace.
"Situational awareness capabilities that give an operator near real-time effectiveness feedback in a form that is readily observed by the operator."
These are humans you are at war with. There is no neat satellite imagry detailing the effect of delivered ordinance, to think otherwise is dangerous self dellusion.
"Technologies/concepts for developing and assessing cyberspace capabilities while disconnected from the operational cyberspace domain (the Internet or communication networks) including IO modeling, simulation, and capability, and operational and performance assessments."
More military resource bullshit having no actual analouge to "cyberspace"
"Situational awareness capabilities that give an operator near real-time effectiveness feedback in a form that is readily observed by the operator."
See RFC 3514.
"Technologies/concepts for developing capabilities to assess and visualize non-kinetic cyberspace domain effects."
They were attacking us so we broke the Internet and therefore we won because nobody can attack us anymore.
"Cyberspace technologies/capabilities employing unique characteristics resulting in the adversary entering conflicts in a degraded state"
More useless military thinking... you assume the adversary has anything to loose or is capable of being "degraded" ...
Unless the airforce also has a real working "Stealth" quantum computer they are not telling anyone about its time to wake up and get real.
They're using their existing airforce vocabulary. Which means they're using their existing airforce thinking.
You don't "intercept", "locate", "target", or "plan" with information technology the same way you do those things with enemy aircraft. We do have problems with information security and systems security, but they're not the same kinds of problems as bombers flying overhead. And we have solutions, too, which just don't detect or respond or work in the same ways. They need to find someone in the field and ask questions about what they should be looking for before setting their goals.
//TODO: signature
I guess they'd been watching the Patents and the actions of Aapl's Lawyers!
They left out the part where Franky and Bubba make you dissappear in the desert upon project completion, before the drug cartel, mafia, Xe, etc. recruit you.
Has been very effective so far.
Even though the comment was intended for a different context, the sentiment reigns supreme. We have met the enemy, and they is us.
Granted, we can do some things to improve our defences without destroying ourselves. But, attempts at creating offensive cyberwar capability are careful and meticulous preparations for suicide. Any clear-thinking opponent will swiftly realize that they have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Mel Brooks gave a good summary of our current situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_JOGmXpe5I
Miles
It's somehow news that the US Government is looking at this stuff? Wow! What insight. Let's see - this is just one Air Force organization, and there's a whole Cyber Command out there that also does this stuff! There are three other services looking for the same kinds of stuff (check fedbizops.gov sometime). Plus, this was released, PUBLICLY, in FEBRUARY!!!
I don't rant often on Slashdot, but the fact this one made it through the crap filter disappoints me.
http://www.moviesoundscentral.com/sounds/playgames.wav
I know, right? The Iraqis held the Americans off for 21 whole days [wikipedia.org]!
Well, "held off" is a bit of an overstatement anyways, don't you think?
More like: "It took us that long to haul enough ordnance to the place and to unload it again into the Iraqi Republican Guard given the finite number of soldiers/weapons we had there."
It takes a bit of time to destroy/kill that much/many, you know. Weapons have cycling rates and reload times. Soldiers need meals and sleep. Vehicles/armor have a limited speed, especially if traversing rough terrain. Slower heavy supply/support transport has to catch up.
I almost miss "Baghdad Bob". He was the closest thing to "comedy relief" I've ever seen or heard of in an actual military conflict that wasn't with the USO. :)
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
In theory, the purpose of our military is to protect us. As such, they would be failing this job if they DIDN'T look into this kind of stuff.
In practice, our military supplies a LOT of jobs for a lot of people. I don't see any reason why this shouldn't include the technologically inclined.
In reality, we have far less to fear from the Air Force than we do from a host of other government agencies, all of which are probably already up to their asses in this.
I'm just not seeing any reason to feel concern here.
(see how well Iraq and Afghanistan held back the US military with just poorly armed volunteers defending their homes and families from the invading army).
I know, right? The Iraqis held the Americans off for 21 whole days!
... then continued to bleed you (and them, and civilians) until Dec. 18, 2011 despite it all being "over with" in 21 days. Some people will never understand Stalingrad (suckers) or the VietNam War (suckers^2). How long did it take to actually find Saddam again? "Most significantly, Saddam Hussein himself was captured on December 13, 2003 ..."
Hmm. "March 20, 2003 to December 18, 2011 ..." I think that's a bit more than 21 days. In fact, I'm fairly sure March 20, 2003 to December 13, 2003 is quite a bit more than 21 days.
You display an astonishing facility for avoidance of reality. You should be careful of that. It's a dangerous condition.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
I hear the Russians and several other East European countries may have whole kits for sale. Ready to go, just negotiate a good price.
History reference - how the USA agreed to leave the Mob alone to gain access into Sicily in WW2.
You're a legend in your own mind.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
Tell them to give us the Stargate tech they're hiding in Cheyenne Mountain, and we'll talk about cyber-weapons.
I am John Hurt.
you're not apk
Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
There fixed that for ya.
Get some perspective. Cyber is cheap compared to all the hardware and personnel costs for running a military. The Air Force just doesn't want to get caught with their pants down, and doesn't want to depend upon another service to provide them cyber capabilities.
Get them to switch over to Time Warner Cable Broadband Internet...
-jg
Failing so badly to apk it's now legendary http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3078649&cid=41162077 LMAO!