Analysis: U.S. needs cyber-offensive

The United States needs to do more to develop an offensive cyberwar capability, rather than just focus on defending its networks from attack, says the chairman of the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee.

“The best defense is a good offense, and an offensive (cyberwar) capability is essential to our national defense,” Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., told United Press International last week, calling it “a necessary deterrent.”

“Warfare is forever changed” never again will we see major warfare without a strong cyber-component executed as part of it,” he added, citing as proof the assault on Georgian government Web sites that accompanied the Russian invasion there last month.

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Langevin, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology, and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, also called on the White House to declassify much more of its Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, or CNCI, and said the Department of Homeland Security should be stripped of its lead role in defending the nation’s computer networks.

His call for a more robust offensive capacity in cyber-warfare highlights an ongoing debate in government about how best to address the complex challenges posed by U.S. dependence on the Internet and other computer networks — a vulnerability that could be exploited by the nation’s enemies.

One issue highlighted by experts is the difficulty in determining the origins of cyberattacks, which are often launched using “bot-nets” of compromised computers owned by innocent users, which can be on an entirely different continent to the attackers themselves.

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