The Pentagon is set to publish a report on measures to tackle and respond to cyber warfare.
A cyber-attack last month targeting U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin has hastened the Pentagon’s steps on the cyber-warfare plans. A report, due in a matter of weeks, is expected to deem cyber-attacks as an act of war, and to suggest whatever measures necessary to defend the country’s infrastructure.
“A response to a cyber-incident or attack on the US would not necessarily be a cyber-response. All appropriate options would be on the table,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters on Tuesday.
Areas of great concern include the already-strained power grid in the U.S., or systems that emergency response networks rely on. Attacks against systems particularly in urban areas could have devastating consequences for the civilian populations in the worst case.
“We reserve the right to use all necessary means - diplomatic, informational, military, and economic - as appropriate and consistent with applicable international law, in order to defend our nation, our allies, our partners and our interests,” states a White House statement put out on May 16.
The United States is not alone in its feelings toward cyber-warfare either.
In 2007, the nation of Estonia came under a heavy denial of service attack in a dispute over the movement of a Soviet-era war monument. The attacks, believed to have come from Russia (though the Kremlin stresses there was no official involvement), targeted the government and financial services of the state, with harsh consequences for citizens in a country that relies heavily on digital transactions and other electronic services.
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In May, UK citizen Paul Chambers was convicted of sending a ‘menacing’ tweet via Twitter, with the British Court fining him £2500 and slapping him with a criminal record.
In early January, the airport in South Yorkshire was closed due to excessive snow and Chambers was so mad that he wrote: “Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your s*** together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!”
Airport security officials saw the tweet and then passed on the complaint to the local authorities.
Chambers lost his job after being arrested, and was the first person to ever be convicted of a crime just for tweeting.
This week, a judge has refused to overturn the conviction, effectively ending Chamber’s appeal.
The judge then yelled at the courtroom as a number of those sitting in the crowd were tweeting updates as the case progressed.
Thousands of Chamber’s supporters took to Twitter after the decision, using the “trending topic” #IAmSpartacus to post menacing messages, with some threatening to blow up the White House, Downing Street, “everyone” and all other types of nouns.
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According to figures from Omniture SiteCatalyst, the MSNBC web site had its largest ever monthly video streams in June, thanks mostly to the massive popularity of Michael Jackson and his passing and a feature on President Barack Obama.
The site had over 153 million online-video streams for the month, a 14 percent increase from the site’s previous record, set in October 2008, before the Presidential election. MSNBC says over 14 percent of the streams are accountable to Michael Jackson related videos, following his death on June 25th. According to the press release, “NBC’s “Inside the Obama White House” provided an exclusive look at what happens throughout the White House and the West Wing during a day in the life of the Obama administration,” and saw strong viewership as well.
The results look promising for NBC and parent company General Electric which saw a 49 percent profit decline year-on-year for the Q2.
The site expects a strong July as well, as the MJ memorial brought in over 15 million video streams alone.
