Dual-leadership role at NSA and Cyber Command stirs debate

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dual-leadership-role-at-nsa-and-cyber-command-stirs-debate/2013/10/06/ffb2ac40-2c59-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html

By Ellen Nakashima
The Washington Post
October 6, 2013

During suspected Iranian cyber­attacks on the Web sites of commercial 
banks last year, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, who simultaneously heads the 
country’s largest electronic spy agency and the military’s Cyber Command, 
proposed a simple solution: Shut off the attacks at their source.

“We had the expertise and could have done something about it,” said one 
U.S. official, who like others interviewed for this store spoke on the 
condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. “We’re sitting 
on their networks overseas. Why don’t we just turn it off?”

But the proposal to send a simple computer “reset” command to the 
attacking servers was ultimately rejected by National Security Council 
officials this year because the attacks were not causing enough harm to 
warrant an offensive response.

The episode shows the willingness — some say eagerness — of Alexander to 
use his authority to conduct offensive actions to fend off attacks against 
the private sector. If a similar proposal were on the table today, it 
would be the new cyber-teams that Alexander is creating to defend the 
nation that probably would do the job.

[...]

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