Air Force wants to control ‘any and all computers’?
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
May 19, 2008 at 10:16am
So how will our Macs be affected by this: The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it “access” to—and “full control” of—any kind of computer there is, reports Wired. And once the info warriors are in, the Air Force wants them to keep tabs on their “adversaries’ information infrastructure completely undetected,” the article adds.
The Air Force recently put together a “Cyberspace Command,” with a charter to rule networks “the way its fighter jets rule the skies,” according to Wired. The Department of Homeland Security, Darpa, and other agencies are teaming up for a five-year, US$30 billion “national cybersecurity initiative.”
On Monday, the Air Force Research Laboratory introduced a two-year, $11 million effort to put together hardware and software tools for “Dominant Cyber Offensive Engagement.” Here’s part of the “engagement” plans: “This includes high risk, high payoff capabilities for gaining access to any remotely located open or closed computer information systems; these systems enabling full control of a network for the purposes of information gathering and effects based operations. Of interest are any and all techniques to enable user and/or root level access to both fixed (PC) or mobile computing platforms. Robust methodologies to enable access to any and all operating systems, patch levels, applications and hardware are of interest. Also, we are interested in technology to provide the capability to maintain an active presence within the adversaries’ information infrastructure completely undetected. Of interest are any and all techniques to enable stealth and persistence capabilities on an adversaries infrastructure. This could be a combination of hardware and/or software focused development efforts.
”Following this, it is desired to have the capability to stealthily exfiltrate information from any remotely-located open or closed computer information systems with the possibility to discover information with previously unknown existence. Any and all techniques to enable exfiltration techniques on both fixed and mobile computing platforms are of interest. Consideration should be given to maintaining a ‘low and slow’ gathering paradigm in these development efforts to enable stealthy operation.”
Is it just me or is does this sound very Big Brother-ish and a potential invasion of privacy?
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john Says:
“Is it just me or is does this sound very Big Brother-ish and a potential invasion of privacy?”
It’s not just you… and “sounds” isn’t the word to use.
It “is” Big Brother-ish and an invasion of privacy.
I wonder if those in the government, and it’s police and armed forces, truly know why they are called public servants?
I think they are forgetting (or ignoring - because it’s inconvenient to their goals) just who they really work for.
Posted on May 19, 2008
David Stempnakowski Says:
Big Brother-ish?
People, the big tip-off should have occurred in 2002 - Department of Homeland Security? I’m still waiting for “Ministry of Truth” and “NewSpeak.”
Posted on May 19, 2008
DAG Says:
Explain to me why the agency charged with defending our airspace and providing tactical and strategic air support needs the ability to big brother everyone’s computer hardware. Maybe they should stick to their original purpose, which they are not doing such a good job at. The USAF dropped the ball, essentially asleep at the wheel, on 9-11.
If anybody bothers to read the reports of the day, the USAF looked like the Bad News Bears when it really counted, despite their massive budget. Just like at the dawn of the Space Age, it wasn’t ‘America’s Aerospace Team’ ( an in-house USAF tag) that put the USA into space. After the Navy and Air Force failed, the US Army team from Huntsville, Alabama came in and launched Explorer (an Air Force satellite) on an Army Jupiter C missile.More recently, the Air Force spent a truckload of tax money building a Space Shuttle launch facility at Vandenberg AFB that has NEVER launched a Shuttle and never will.
Maybe we should disband the USAF and return them to what they ere before- the US Army Air Corps. Given their track record when it counts, I don’t see why anything like this should be entrusted to them.
Posted on May 20, 2008
Andrew T Says:
It’s funny how so many point the finger at the Air Force and not at our Senate and Congress. Do you know who actually awards the contract to build planes? The Air Force was the issuer, but the overall decision came from Congress - if you think political interests weren’t involved in the decision you’re delusional.
The capability for this level of cyber warfare was almost non-existent when 9/11 happened, the CIA and other “closed” agencies were at the helm for all information gathering and human intellegence operations. This merely states that the Air Force will have the capability to invade an ENEMY target’s computer system and network to gain information for the purposes of national defense, not to catch John Doe down the block who downloads pornography.
Posted on May 20, 2008
Roger Says:
Let’s look at it this way: If the Air Force is charged with controlling the skies in a war, that means ideally controlling everything in the sky--enemy planes, drones, missiles, smart bombs, etc. Do you not think China and Russia have the combat capability to attack us with electronically controlled weapons? And don’t you think we should have countermeasures in place? It’s prudent to stay ahead of the game, and that IS the Air Force’s job.
Posted on May 20, 2008
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Ken Says:
To me it sounds like the USAF is grabbing new tasks to perform, especially since the increase in unmanned aircraft is increasing. With the USAF making some very unpopular decision these days, like buying a French plane for their new tanker, one does not have a lot of confidence in any current activities under their control. Pity.
Posted on May 19, 2008