U.S. At ‘Tipping Point’ On Cyberweapons

Admiral Michael Rogers is commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency. PHOTO: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS

Wall Street Journal: NSA Chief Says U.S. at ‘Tipping Point’ on Cyberweapons

Policy makers largely agree on rules of engagement for defense, but offense still undecided.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. military has spent five years developing advanced cyberweapon and digital capabilities and is likely to deploy them more publicly soon, the head of the Pentagon’s U.S. Cyber Command said Thursday.

Adm. Mike Rogers, who is also director of the National Security Agency, said U.S. policy makers have largely agreed on rules of engagement for when cyberweapons can be used for defense.

There is still an open discussion, however, about when cyberweapons should be used for “offense,” such as carrying out attacks against a group or foreign country.

“You can tell we are at the tipping point now,” Adm. Rogers said. “The capacity and the capability are starting to come online [and] really starting to pay off in some really tangible capabilities that you will start to see us apply in a broader and broader way.”

Still, Adm. Rogers stopped short of specifying how exactly these cyberpowers could be deployed in coming months.

Read more ....

Update #1: Rogers: Cyber Command capabilities at 'tipping point' (FCW)
Update #2: Rogers: Cyber doesn't need its own military branch (Defense Systems)

WNU Editor: There are still many who are sceptical on all of this .... Cyber war isn't turning out quite how it was expected (Steve Ranger, ZDNet).