Thaindian News

Washington, July 15 (IANS) The Pentagon Thursday unveiled its first cybersecurity strategy, recognizing cyberspace as “an operational domain to organise, train, and equip”, Xinhua reported.

“It is the first DoD (Department of Defence) unified strategy for cyberspace and officially encapsulates a new way forward for DoD’s military, intelligence and business operations,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

The document, entitled Department of Defence Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace (DSOC), was unveiled by Deputy Secretary of Defence William J. Lynn at the National Defence University in Washington. An unclassified version of the document was posted on the Pentagon’s website.

“This (strategy) allows DoD to organize, train, and equip for cyberspace as we do in air, land, maritime, and space to support national security interests,” the document says.

The blueprint also features a significant shift from “passive” to “active” defence against potential cyber threats. It defines active defence as the Pentagon’s “synchronized, real-time capability to discover, detect, analyze, and mitigate threats and vulnerabilities”.

As part of its active defences, the Pentagon would introduce new operating concepts and capabilities on its networks, such as sensors, software and signatures to detect and stop malicious code before it affects US operations.

The long-expected strategy is likely to cause concerns, both within the US and aboard, over possible US attempt to militarize cyberspace and gain dominance in the new warzone, analysts said.

“Our strategy’s overriding emphasis is on denying the benefit of an attack,” Lynn said. “Far from militarizing cyberspace, our strategy of securing networks to deny the benefit of an attack will help dissuade military actors from using cyberspace for hostile purposes.”