America Is Already in a CyberWar

In a posting in ACM TechNews, Andrew Palowitch, formerly of the CIA, and now an industry consultant to the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, is reported to have disclosed that the United States in the midst of an active cyber war and is already developing a blueprint for protection as part of a secret national cyber-security initiative.

"America is under widespread attack in cyberspace", Palowitch says while citing statistics about 37,000 break-ins of government and private systems in fiscal 2007, including 13,000 direct assaults on federal agencies. Some of the assaults "reduced U.S. military operational capabilities", he said, without divulging who committed the assaults.

The Defense and Homeland Security departments will be responsible for the new initative, which is slowly being implemented.

The full article is published in Government Executive.