US Cyber Command has just finished moving into its new headquarters at Fort Gordon, and already the general in charge is talking about the intention of the forces to go into offensive operations, carrying out cyberattacks.
What the Cyber Command has been doing exactly isn’t clear, but officials had presented it as an almost exclusively defensive campaign. A shift to attacks probably means that defensive operations will be less covered going forward.
The headquarters is set up to give them better information understanding on the process. Apparently that has convinced Gen. Fogarty that it will create the opportunity to find places to attack, and they don’t intend to miss that chance.
Offensive cyber attacks on the Internet are potentially problematic, as this isn’t an environment that separates civilian and military targets well. Cyber attacks involving malware also risk spillover effects on other systems, as with Stuxnet, which hit systems across the world, including American industrial computers.
Here comes yet another reason to wonder if the next zoom meeting will function: will the US provoke a conflict that disrupts the medium on which the remnants of our economy operates?