Cyberspace Strategy

The Pentagon's new cyberspace strategy has five "strategic initiatives":

Treat cyberspace as an operational domain to organize, train, and equip so that DOD can take full advantage of cyberspace's potential;

Employ new defense operating concepts to protect DOD networks and systems;

Partner with other U.S. government departments and agencies and the private sector to enable a whole-of-government cybersecurity strategy;

Build robust relationships with U.S. allies and international partners to strengthen collective cybersecurity;

Leverage the nation's ingenuity through an exceptional cyber workforce and rapid technological innovation.

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright said during a briefing this morning that the Pentagon must shift its cybersecurity focus from defensively protecting its networks to deterring hackers' attacks. As InsideDefense.com reports:

During a breakfast with reporters, Cartwright said the Defense Department's approach to cybersecurity consists of "90 percent of thinking about how to build the next best firewall and 10 percent thinking about what we might do to keep them from attacking us."

DOD, he said, must reverse those percentages.

The Pentagon released its long-awaited cybersecurity strategy today, after Cartwright spoke. He noted the strategy addresses how the department should defend its networks. But, he added, the next iteration must look at how to dissuade and disincentivize would-be attackers. DOD has to convince hackers that the price of attacking a DOD network will be too costly, he said.

The "'if-I-don't-get-in-today-I'll-just-try-them-again-tomorrow mindset' -- we've got to change that," Cartwright said. "Right now we're on a path that is too predictable -- way too predictable. It's purely defensive."

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