DARPA Unveils Cyber Warfare Range

From Aviation Week:

Cyber weapon researchers worry that pieces of the digital warfare puzzle are still missing, in particular projection of new threats that foes may throw at the U.S. But U.S. Defense Department researchers may have an answer in the form of a new proving grounds of sorts.

“Who’s looking at what’s coming next?” asks Rance Walleston, director of BAE Systems’ Information Operations Initiative. “That’s still weak.”

Already, “we are seeing the threats shifting,” says Aaron Penkacik, director of BAE Systems’ Collaborative Technology Alliance that works with small companies and universities around the world to create and developed specialized materials and technologies. “As you go into a new theater of operations, you see [advanced communications and new uses for networks] pop-up everywhere. The threat is there, ad-hoc, undefined and asymmetric. So you have to stand up your capability quickly to defend and fight your networks.”

Read more ....

My Comment: The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have revealed the extent and effectiveness of the U.S. military and its use of high technology and broadband in their battles. Predators in the sky, GPS missile strikes, communication and just on time awareness of troop and enemy positions .... this has made the U.S. military machine unmatched to anyone in the world today.

The use of viruses, malware, and other web and high tech tools as weapons is now expected from the other side. The extent of this conflict and its limits are now finally being stated by the U.S..