US SAYS: "If You Hack Us, We Might Destroy You"

The US revealed its "International Strategy for Cyberspace" (PDF) yesterday. It is mostly blather about how terrific "cyberspace" is, but it gets more specific on a few key issues like national defense. Could our next war start because of a hack? The government says it is feasible.

"States have an inherent right to self-defense that may be triggered by sure aggressive acts in cyberspace, says the owner. Indeed, such aggressive acts might compel a country like the US to act even when the hacking is targeted at an allied country.

Military force will only be used as a last resort after other diplomatic and economic cures are tried, but the US government has definitely realized the worth of the Web and has no purpose of sitting quietly while corporate and governmental computer systems are attacked with impunity.

Certain hostile acts conducted through cyberspace could compel actions under the commitments they have with our military treaty partners, says the document. When warranted, the United States will reply to hostile acts in cyberspace as they would any other threat to our country.

But the cyberspace security strategy doesn't involve speak about playing offense; defense is stressed even more heavily. Dissuasion of hackers is a core aim, and it extends beyond national borders. A globally distributed network requires globally distributed early warning capabilities, says the strategy, which calls for new computer security incident response capabilities globally" and interconnected network defense systems.

With the new strategy document, the government is putting the world on notice: The United States will be sure that the risks associated with attacking or exploiting our networks vastly outweigh the potential benefits.