http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dual-leadership-role-at-nsa-and-cyber-command-stirs-debate/2013/10/06/ffb2ac40-2c59-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html
By Ellen Nakashima
The Washington Post
October 6, 2013
During suspected Iranian cyberattacks on the Web sites of commercial
banks last year, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, who simultaneously heads the
country’s largest electronic spy agency and the military’s Cyber Command,
proposed a simple solution: Shut off the attacks at their source.
“We had the expertise and could have done something about it,” said one
U.S. official, who like others interviewed for this store spoke on the
condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. “We’re sitting
on their networks overseas. Why don’t we just turn it off?”
But the proposal to send a simple computer “reset” command to the
attacking servers was ultimately rejected by National Security Council
officials this year because the attacks were not causing enough harm to
warrant an offensive response.
The episode shows the willingness — some say eagerness — of Alexander to
use his authority to conduct offensive actions to fend off attacks against
the private sector. If a similar proposal were on the table today, it
would be the new cyber-teams that Alexander is creating to defend the
nation that probably would do the job.
[...]
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