Cyber Command Task Force Conducted Its First Offensive Operation (thedrive.com) 31
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: AU.S. Cyber Command task force executed what is being described as its "first offensive cyber effect operation" against real-world cyber threats. While the exact nature of the operation and its target remains unknown, the event was significant enough for the U.S. Secretary of Defense to personally attend to watch the operation in action. The operation was conducted between February and August 2021 by a task force consisting of personnel from the Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Cyber Operations Group, the Delaware Air National Guard's 166th Cyber Operations Squadron, U.S. Navy's Cyber Strike Activity Sixty-Three, the U.S. Air Force's 341st Cyber Operations Squadron, and the Air Force Reserve. The task force executed the operation from February to August last year, although the Air National Guard (ANG) just announced it this week. While there have been other offensive cyber operations conducted by U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), this is the first conducted and acknowledged by this particular task force.
Details about the specific threat countered by the task force's cyber offensive are scarce, but USAF Maj. Corley Bradford, director of operations for 175th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, said the offensive cyber operation involved the security of Department of Defense information networks. "[Our] NMT was a direct contributor to [our task force] conducting a successful offensive cyber effects operation," Bradford stated in an ANG press release. "It was a lot of excitement to finally see the fruits of our labor when [our task force] delivered its first offensive cyber effects operations during this mobilization," said Bradford. Interestingly, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was on hand to personally witness the operation. "It was a massive milestone," Maj. Bradford said, "so he wanted front row seats to see the action firsthand."
Details about the specific threat countered by the task force's cyber offensive are scarce, but USAF Maj. Corley Bradford, director of operations for 175th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, said the offensive cyber operation involved the security of Department of Defense information networks. "[Our] NMT was a direct contributor to [our task force] conducting a successful offensive cyber effects operation," Bradford stated in an ANG press release. "It was a lot of excitement to finally see the fruits of our labor when [our task force] delivered its first offensive cyber effects operations during this mobilization," said Bradford. Interestingly, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was on hand to personally witness the operation. "It was a massive milestone," Maj. Bradford said, "so he wanted front row seats to see the action firsthand."
scatter Gun approach (Score:2)
Delaware Air National Guard's 166th Cyber Operations Squadron, U.S. Navy's Cyber Strike Activity Sixty-Three, the U.S. Air Force's 341st Cyber Operations Squadron After establishing so many squadrons you'd expect them to eventually get one or two that are effective. Congratulations to all involved. Except squadrons 1 to 165.
Re: (Score:1)
166th just indicates they fall under the 166th Wing and while there are a lot of Wings at the Federal and State levels not all of them have cyber operations.
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Does not work that way. 166th just indicates they fall under the 166th Wing and while there are a lot of Wings at the Federal and State levels not all of them have cyber operations.
Correct, nor does it indicate there are 166 Wings since some may have been deactivated and the USAF doesn't renumber when that happens.
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Yea, sure, THE FIRST offensive operation (Score:2)
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I am sure they attracted and maybe trained some talented people, but I have yet to even imagine someone with the skills to be effective in IT security who would willingly put the term cyber anything on their CV.
I mean.. Cyber is just so cringe-worthy of a term.
And yes, I know they went to hacker competitions and conferences... but have you seen those?
But does Cyber Command have robots? (Score:3)
The should have robots.
Really big robots.
Xbox Live (Score:1)
Re: Xbox Live (Score:2)
Personal cleaning up the trash in most gaming communities might be a better use of tax payer funding.
Re: Xbox Live (Score:2)
We did something... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Sounds like it had to do with the DoD IP space (Score:3)
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Welp, the US military are the haxx0rz nao.
I think you should read some history, for example of the second world war, or the take over of the computer systems of Iraq prior to the US invasion. This his hardly new.
So there's no longer any question of legitimacy, only of politics. Waging war at the push of a button, and not even the big one.
WaaS, anyone?
We don't even know the attack was against. Maybe it's ISIS terrorists planning to murder Chinese citizens. You should be happy about that.
It turns the US into something like the UK, when they where wagging their finger at China for their great firewall as a violation of human rights while erecting three UK-sized of those for their own "Good And Clean Internet".
Legitimacy comes not from capabilities or even from specific actions. Legitimacy comes from clear due process and discoverability. When Peng Shuai accused a Communist party leader of sexual assault, in
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We don't even know the attack was against. Maybe it's ISIS terrorists planning to murder Chinese citizens. You should be happy about that.
If that were the case there's no reason they couldn't tell us something about it, because the people they attacked already know and the rest of us should be happy about it.
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Fair point, but there's also plenty of history in these organisations of attacking intelligence targets and not letting them know what happened for years. You can never be sure, even if you know of one operation they did whether that wasn't a cover for another one. E.g. if they hacked ISIS drones and used them to bomb ISIS positions that shouldn't come out for decades because the countermeasures are too obvious.
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I think you should read some history, for example of the second world war, or the take over of the computer systems of Iraq prior to the US invasion. This his hardly new.
So it's not news then?
When big things repeat that's also news. To be frank, some of the things done in WWII are still classified and when they start releasing them, as they did with some things in the last decades, that's news. In fact, some WWI things are news [fas.org]
Legitimacy comes not from capabilities or even from specific actions. Legitimacy comes from clear due process and discoverability.
So that's where the US government gets its legitimacy? Are you saying the second US war in Iraq wasn't legitimate? Because the world did discover that the "WMD"-pretext was entirely made up. [...]
But of course, nobody involved has been or will be brought to justice. So much for "due process" then.
I would say that that war wasn't fully legitimate and the Chilcot Inquiry in the UK has made that pretty clear. The consequences that those responsible are suffering from are inadequate but they do exist [theguardian.com] and clear criticism of that is ongoing in a way that criticism ofge [bbc.co.uk]
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"No review whatsoever of the votes they were concerned about." You gotta be kidding me! There were lots of reviews, and every last one of them--including the Cyber Ninjas in Arizona, who were hired by the right wing politicians in Arizona--found nothing wrong. Because there was nothing to be found.
Take Microsoft Windows out and shoot it !!! (Score:3)
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That would be a good start.
Windows security problems are the majority of the problems.
Might want to consider some of their security team too.
Black list them from any security role in the future.
We are never going to get smarter users, so we are going to have to protect what we can.
Only allow net handles as name, no real world information.
Tron (Score:2)
Interestingly, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was on hand to personally witness the operation
They scanned him into it, like on Tron [wikipedia.org].
hmmmmm (Score:1)
Pissing away capabilities (Score:2)
"Offensive cyber operations" are an exercise in pissing away capabilities for no reason.
I was there (Score:2)
BeauHD posted an article on the enemy's website and the complaints immediately caused a denial of service attack.
Die (Score:2)
Dr Who and the Cybermen (Score:2)
Translation, we did something but not gonna tell! (Score:2)