UPDATED 13:37 EDT / AUGUST 30 2012

NEWS

US Military Admits State Sponsored Cyberattacks

Marine Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills admitted in a conference last week that they used cyberwarfare against their opponents in Afghanistan.

“I can tell you that as a commander in Afghanistan in the year 2010, I was able to use my cyber operations against my adversary with great impact,” Mills said. “I was able to get inside his nets, infect his command-and-control, and in fact defend myself against his almost constant incursions to get inside my wire, to affect my operations.”

Though state-sponsored cyberattack is not a secret, it’s still not something the government wants you to know about especially when they chastise countries who practice this.  The Pentagon did not want to elaborate on what Mills stated but they clarified that their cyber operations were properly authorized and that they took place within the bounds of international law and the “confines of existing policy.”

Earlier this month, the government made it known to the public that the Chinese government already has a hacking army which targets other governments.  It was found out that critical data and e-mail which belongs to the president of the European Union Council, Herman Van Rompuy, were stolen by a Chinese hacker group called ‘Comment/ Byzantine Candor’.   Also, malicious activities within the Indian Naval computers were traced to IP addresses from China and Chinese-codes.  The government make it seem like China was doing something really bad so U.S. President Obama endorsed the Cybersecurity Bill.  And that’s just ironic.  A government wanting to combat state-sponsored hacking is sponsoring hackers themselves.  What is the world coming to?


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.

  • 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more
  • 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network.
About SiliconANGLE Media
SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios — with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI.

Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.