U.S. Military Is Increasing Its Cyber Offensive Against Countries Like russia, China, Iran, And Other Adversaries

Photo from NDTV

NBC: Under Trump, U.S. military ramps up cyber offensive against other countries

"The other side thought they could just walk all over us," said one expert. "There was a decision in this administration to impose consequences."

WASHINGTON — With little public scrutiny, the U.S. military has drastically stepped up its secret hacking of foreign computer networks in a new effort to keep China, Russia, Iran and other adversaries on their heels, current and former U.S. officials tell NBC News.

Empowered with new legal authority from both Congress and President Donald Trump, the military's elite cyber force has conducted more operations in the first two years of the Trump administration than it did in eight years under Obama, officials say — including against Russia, despite Trump's well-documented affinity for Vladimir Putin.

The general in charge of the push, Paul Nakasone, has spoken about the new policy in cryptic terms such as "persistent engagement," and "defending forward," without explaining what that means. Multiple current and former American officials briefed on the matter say military hackers are breaking into foreign networks, striking at enemy hackers and planting cyber bombs that would disable infrastructure in the event of a conflict.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: This is long overdue.

from War News Updates http://bit.ly/2XrNsY7