Ron Marks, intelligence program chair at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security, discusses what a more “aggressive” stance means for cyber defense, and how it could change operational strategy at the agency.
General Paul Nakasone, head of U.S. Cyber Command, recently stated that under his leadership, the agency will be much more aggressive in defending Defense Department networks. Ron Marks, intelligence program chair at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security, says that more aggression doesn’t necessarily mean going on the offensive. “As far as operational is concerned, I think that’s one of those one’s they’ll have to think carefully about. I’m sure they’re preparing a version of ‘target decks’ in terms of making decisions about ‘if we attack, what will happen, what kind of damage there will be etc.’” Marks said. “One of the challenges of the net is that you never know who is connected to whom… Stuxnet started off as an attack on Iran and then a year later you find it existing almost around the world in different nets because that’s just the way things get passed around.”
