On 11/2, Sean Lawson wrote a great article for Forbes questioning whether the U.S. is militarizing cyberspace. Lawson defined militarizing cyberspace as “giving a military character to it, equipping it with military forces and defenses, and/or adapting it for military use.” In light of that definition, Lawson argued that the U.S. has indeed been militarizing cyberspace. Although DoD repeatedly assured us that the military was concerned only with its own defense, the following events seem to suggest that the military is taking an increasingly greater role: the creation of CyberComm, the NSA’s efforts to defend private companies, the elevation of cyberspace to operational domain level, and the suggestion that the military might “take action outside its computer networks to defend critical U.S. computer systems.”
Check out the rest of Sean Lawson’s article for Forbes here.
For what it’s worth, I wholeheartedly agree with Lawson; the DoD is seeking to play a much large role than it had previously indicated. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but I understand why others would be concerned. But is it really any surprise that in this cybersecurity vacuum, the entity with the most resources and most cyber-expertise would step up and defend the nation from very real threats? Is there some better alternative?
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