Security & Defense

More than 20 countries hit by cyber campaign to steal geopolitical intelligence

By Josh Halliday, Guardian

From Josh Halliday, Guardian:  Cyber criminals have targeted government officials in more than 20 countries, including Ireland and Romania, in a complex online assault seen rarely since the turn of the millennium.

U.S. proposes a ‘cyber work plan’ for NATO

By John Reed, Killer Apps

Fighting Chinese Cyberespionage: Obama’s Next Move

By Jason Healey

Finally the Obama administration has come into the open in their calls against other nations’ stealing of trade secrets, especially through cyberespionage. The just-released “Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of US Trade Secrets” is the next in a promised string of new cyber policies and actions from a newly invigorated White House. Like the […]

Xbox Dreadnought?

By Julian Lindley-French

HMS Dreadnought at a stroke condemned every other battleship on the planet to the scrap yard. Launched in 1906 she represented a revolutionary step change in ship design combining big guns and new Parsons steam turbines with heavy armor in such a way that she could out-gun, out-pace and out-protect any battleship afloat.  Is warfare about to […]

How the US Should Respond to Chinese Cyberespionage

By Jason Healey

A U.S. cybersecurity company has released details proving beyond any reasonable doubt that the Chinese military, through its Unit 61398, has intruded into at least 141 organizations over seven years, stealing terabytes of data from each. Now that attribution is clear (and, more importantly, public) the U.S. government has its best opportunity in years to […]

The dawning of an age of permanent cyber warfare?

By David Rothkopf, Foreign Policy

From David Rothkopf, Foreign Policy:  When you drop a bomb on a country, it not only devastates its target — it also disintegrates. But when you launch a worm against a facility, that worm or its elements remain intact and discoverable and thus re-usable by the victim of the attack. In other words, while cyber […]

The Defense Dividend

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Project Syndicate

From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Project Syndicate:  Virtually every day brings fresh evidence that an arc of crisis – from terrorism and weapons proliferation to cyber-attacks and piracy – is spreading from the Middle East and the Sahel to Central Asia.

Security Force Assistance: It’s Not Just for Weak States

By Derek Reveron

Doctrinally, security force assistance (SFA) is a set of activities to develop the capacity and capabilities of foreign security forces and their supporting institutions. We often associate SFA with weak states, where the United States enables partner countries such as Pakistan, Colombia, and Yemen to combat challenges that threaten their own security and regional stability.