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NSA Director Argues For "Red Button" Autonomy Against Unattributed Cyber-Attacks
An anonymous reader writes U.S. Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers — director of the National Security Agency and Commander of United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) — has suggested that cyber-attacks can begin and escalate so quickly that USCYBERCOM would need powers to retaliate immediately, without (as it is currently obliged) referring the matter to the United States Strategic Command. In testimony to the "House Armed Services Committee on cyber operations and improving the military's cybersecurity posture" on March 4th, Adm. Rogers argues for "development of defensive options which do not require full attribution to meet the requirements of law and international agreement."
If someone shoots at you, don't bother finding out who it was, just start shooting random people.
Who ordered that?
The NSA has been listening in on the data of everyone it can, and wants the ability to do so without any oversight. Now, it wants to ability to retaliate without oversight? The NSA is one "colorful" leader away from making the transition from power hungry government agency to supervillian organization.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
They already do. Any attack is going to come in via a botnet composed of compromised systems within your own border. You could make those systems more secure, but not without sacrificing the ability to spy on them whenever you want to.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Its called unplugging the target from the internet. Problem solved.
In all seriousness, they don't need a hair trigger response because its going to take them a while to figure out where the attackers actually are.
Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. USCYBERCOM computers begin to learn at a geometric rate. They become self-aware at 2:14 AM Eastern time, August 29th.