Behind the Government's Rules of Cyber War 117
wiredmikey writes "Deciding when malware becomes a weapon of war that warrants a response in the physical world – for example, a missile – has become a necessary part of the discussion of military doctrine. The Pentagon recently outlined (PDF) its working definition of what constitutes cyber-war and when subsequent military strikes against physical targets may be justified as result. The main issue is attribution of cyber attacks. The Department of Defense is working to develop new ways to trace the physical source of an attack and the capability to identify an attacker using behavior-based algorithms. 'If a country is going to fire a missile at someone, it better be sure it has the right target,' said one expert. A widely held misconception in the U.S. government is our offensive capabilities provide defensive advantage by identifying attacker toolkits and methods in foreign networks prior to them hitting our networks. So when do malware and cyber attacks become a weapon or act of war that warrant a real-world military response?"
Re:Causus Belli (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Action is allowed to proceed the paperwork (Score:5, Interesting)
> the president may order the US military
> to attack the perpetrators
The President may order the US military to defend against an active attack. Taking the fight to the attackers requires authorization.
> wait for the following day when congress got the
> paperwork
Congress may be incompetent, stupid, crazy, and deadlocked, but if there were a real attack on American soil, the most dysfunctional Congress we've ever had could get this done in the middle of the night. If Congress can't do it remotely, I'm sure a quorum of members could get individual direct transport to the capital.within a couple hours and pass something within 30 minutes.
It would take at least that long to prove who started the cyber attack.