Network security and attack and defense are the direct confrontation between high-quality talents and high technology. Faced with the grim situation of network security and the rapid development of network attack and defense, western powers have integrated existing resources, established and improved centralized and unified management systems, and made great efforts to safeguard network security.
(A) training network information security and cyber warfare professionals
The National Defense University of the United States took the lead in establishing the Information Resources Combat College, which aims at training information warfare talents, and trained the first generation of cyber warriors in 1995. In June 1995, 16 "first-generation cyber warriors" of the US Army graduated from the School of Information Resources Management of the National Defense University. Their task is to use computers to launch a comprehensive information confrontation with the enemy in the information space. At the same time, based on the resources of colleges and universities, basic courses of cyber warfare are offered, such as basic courses of army computer cyber warfare planners, joint cyber attack courses, interdisciplinary network courses, etc. West Point Military Academy, Air Force Academy and Naval War College set up network security courses many years ago. In 1999, the National Security Agency began to implement the National Information Security Education and Training Plan, set up information security education and academic exchange centers in 23 colleges and universities in China, and began systematic courses from undergraduate to doctoral. The U.S. military stipulates that cyber warfare personnel must have relevant qualifications and professional skills certificates, and initially establish "network warriors" such as the "Red Army" and computer emergency teams in information warfare centers of various services. Britain, France, Russia and other countries have also put forward the plan of "future warrior system".
Under the background of the overall reduction of military budget and the reduction of disciplines and majors in military academies, military academies of the US military began to establish new cyberspace professional projects, many of which focused on cyber warfare. In June, 2014, West Point Military Academy established the Army Cyberspace Academy to deal with theoretical and operational problems in the field of cyberspace. In August, 2014, due to the budget cuts in fiscal year 2015, the US Air Force Academy announced the cancellation of 10 disciplines and 3 graduation design courses, but at the same time announced the opening of new computer network security majors, computer engineering and computer science majors, aiming to help students better understand the cyberspace field and the air force’s cyberspace strategy. The courses include reverse software engineering, malware, viruses, tracking attacks, network evidence collection and other malicious codes, as well as strategy and political science.
Under the increasingly severe situation of network security, Japanese universities have begun to cultivate talents who can cope with network attacks. In 2014, Kyushu University of Japan signed an agreement with the University of Maryland in the United States to introduce the experience and technology in cyber security countermeasures education projects and personnel training, and in December 2014, it set up a research institution "Cyber Security Center" to promote cyber security technology research and expert training. Kyushu University plans to make cyber security subjects compulsory for all students in April 2017.
(B) recruiting social network information hackers
The U.S. government and military secretly recruited computer "hackers" long ago, and the annual global "hacker" conference is the best channel for their recruitment. Federal officials have been attending "hacker" conferences since 1992. At the "hacker" conference in 2005, the Ministry of National Defense issued an invitation to all "hackers" to join. In recent years, nearly half of the attendees of the "hacker" conference are American officials.
At present, the US Cyber Warfare Command is composed of top computer experts and "hackers" in the world, including computer experts from the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Because the average IQ of all members is above 140, they are nicknamed "140 troops". In 2013, the US Cyber Warfare Command built 40 new cyber teams, which were completed before the fall of 2015, and 13 of them were composed of programmers and computer experts. The United States even provides scholarships for college students who are good at network deciphering technology. In exchange, college students need to work for the government for a period of time after graduation. It is reported that France has set up a post system for "hackers" of recent university graduates, and the Japanese government plans to directly recruit "hackers" for the society in 2015.
In the recent Ukrainian crisis, "hackers" played an important role. During the referendum in Crimea, the fierce fighting between "hackers" in Russia and Ukraine reached its peak. On March 16, 2014, the Ukrainian government website was attacked by 42 distributed denial of service attacks, which was consistent with the attack methods used by Russia in Georgia. On March 17th, Ukrainian "hackers" attacked Russian government websites for 132 times, paralyzing a large number of websites. The data volume of one attack reached 124×105 megabytes per second, which lasted for 18 minutes, which was 148 times that of Russian "hackers" attacking Georgian websites and 4 times that of Russian "hackers" attacking Ukraine on 16th. Ukrainian "hackers" have twice captured the website of the Russian State Duma and posted an anti-Russian statement on the webpage, leaving "Glory belongs to Ukraine!" The slogan. Previously, the website of the State Duma had been attacked by a "hacker", calling on Russian residents to take up arms and kill Russian Federal Security Service personnel. These attacks are carried out through botnets, and infected computers all over the world may be involved in the attacks.
(C) improve the national network information management system
The overall situation, extensiveness, complexity and destructive power of network information security determine that it must be jointly managed by multiple government departments, but this will also easily lead to the problems of overlapping and division of management. Therefore, it is necessary to set up an authoritative coordination agency directly under the highest authority above multiple departments to centrally and uniformly manage and coordinate network information security issues. This not only adapts to the overall situation of network security, but also overcomes the problem of multi-sectoral fragmentation.
The network information security management system in the United States is relatively perfect. Six major government departments are responsible for the specific affairs of network security, and the senior institutions directly under the President are in charge of the network information security affairs. The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for both the federal government’s network information security and defensive network operations. The Ministry of Commerce is responsible for the technical support of network systems and the formulation of network information infrastructure plans. The Ministry of Justice (subordinate FBI) is responsible for investigating cyber crimes in litigation and participating in cyber security laws and regulations formulated by Congress. The State Council leads international cooperation in network information. The administrative departments include the CIO Committee and the Inter-Agency Policy Committee on Information and Communication Infrastructure. The CIO Committee is composed of 28 federal administrative departments, which is responsible for managing network security, and the Inter-Agency Policy Committee on Information and Communication Infrastructure coordinates information and communication infrastructure policies. The Network Command of the Ministry of National Defense manages the network information operation of the Ministry of National Defense and leads the network attack and defense war of the whole army. Its commander also has the triple identity of the director of the National Security Agency and the director of the Central Security Agency, leading the American cryptology community.
In order to avoid all kinds of problems caused by the overlapping of multi-departmental functions, the United States has set up an authority directly under the president to coordinate and manage network information security. In 2009, the National Communication and Network Security Control Joint Coordination Center was established to coordinate and integrate the network security management information of six major government departments, and analyze and report it to the President. In the same year, the White House Cyber Security Office was established, and the special assistant to the President concurrently served as the White House Cyber Security Coordinator to coordinate the daily affairs of cyber security in the United States and make plans. In 2010, the United States will pass the Cyber Security Act of 2009, authorizing the President to declare a state of cyber security emergency and restrict the power of important information networks related to national security. The Information Security Policy Committee and the Presidential Key Infrastructure Protection Committee directly under the President are responsible for providing network information security status, policy recommendations, and coordinating the implementation of relevant plans. The authoritative organization coordinates and manages the six major government departments, ensuring the high efficiency of comprehensive coordination and cooperation and division of labor among departments, and effectively safeguarding the security of network information.
Russia has also established a network information management system similar to that of the United States. Specific departments are responsible for division of labor, and the authority directly under the President conducts centralized management and coordination. Russian government departments specifically responsible for network information security include the Federal Ministry of Communications and Information, the National Security Conference, the Ministry of National Defense and the Federal Security Service. The coordination agencies directly under the President include the National Technical Committee and the National Information Policy Committee. The former is responsible for formulating and implementing unified technical policies and legal norms for network information security, while the latter leads and coordinates the relevant work of the information security protection department. The national security conference has a special agency and special unit responsible for counter-information warfare. The Russian Cyber Command will soon be established, either directly under the Ministry of National Defense or as an independent unit.
(D) the formation of a unified network combat force.
At present, more than 100 countries have set up special departments in the military to fight against cyberspace, but only a handful of countries have the ability to fight long-term cyber warfare. American services have their own cyber warfare units for a long time. The US Navy established the Fleet Cyber Command and the 10th Fleet (including the Naval Fleet Information Warfare Center and its subordinate computer emergency response unit) on the basis of the Cyber Warfare Command. The Air Force established the Cyberspace Command based on the 24th Air Wing, which has jurisdiction over 67 Cyber Warfare Wing, 688 Information Warfare Wing, 689 Combat Communication Wing, Air Force Network Integration Center, Computer Emergency Response Unit, 92nd Information Warfare Invasion Team, etc., to further integrate the Air Force’s existing cyber combat forces and improve the effectiveness of network integration. The U.S. Army established the Army Forces Network Command and the Computer Emergency Response Unit, whose duty is to safeguard the security of the information systems of the Army bases, and launch information network attacks when necessary to invade, destroy, paralyze or even control other countries’ military networks. The United States Marine Corps has also set up a cyber command.
In 2005, the U.S. military reorganized the Strategic Command. This supreme command organ, which mainly planned and coordinated global nuclear strikes in the Cold War, was entrusted with the important task of commanding the cyber warfare of the whole army, and it was under the jurisdiction of the global cyber warfare joint task force and the cyber warfare joint function to form the command. In 2006, the US Department of Defense established the "Network Media Warfare Force", whose members are both computer experts and excellent "journalists". They monitor the Internet 24 hours a day in order to correct wrong information in time, help the US military to deal with "inaccurate information" and actively guide the spread of self-interested reports. With the rapid development of cyber warfare, in 2009, the US military established the Cyber Command on the basis of integrating the cyber warfare forces of various arms and services, and merged the global cyber warfare joint task force and the cyber warfare joint function to form the command. Together with the missile defense force and the strategic nuclear force, it belongs to the US Strategic Command, and it was officially put into operation in May 2010, thus establishing a centralized and unified leadership system for cyber warfare forces, and the United States became the first country in the world to introduce war agencies into the Internet. At present, the network command has a strength of about 1,100 people, and it is planned to increase to 6,000 people in 2016. According to the plan, the cyber warfare forces of the entire US military will be fully formed around 2020. By then, it will take on the task of network attack and defense.Ensure that the U.S. military will have all-weather global alert monitoring, transmission and attack control capabilities, and ensure that the U.S. military has a comprehensive information advantage in future wars.
Japan, Russia and Britain also attach great importance to the construction of cyber warfare forces. On March 26, 2014, the Japanese Self-Defense Force formally established the cyber warfare special force "Cyber Defense Team", which is composed of about 90 self-defense members from the land, sea and air self-defense forces. It is directly under the Ministry of Defense and is supervised and commanded by the Chief of Staff of the Self-Defense Force. The "cyber defense team" unified the cyber warfare forces and resources of the original land, sea and air self-defense forces. The Russian Cyber Command will be established in the near future. The newly-built Russian Cyber Command may be directly affiliated to the Ministry of National Defense, or it may be established as an independent arm similar to airborne troops and strategic rocket soldiers.
(5) Coordinate and control the positions of the allies in cyber warfare.
The US military has also extended the control tentacles of cyber warfare to its allies in an attempt to control the cyber warfare forces of its allies. A document provided by Snowden shows that the "Five Eyes" spy alliance, which consists of spy agencies of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, launched a cyber espionage activity called "Network Magician", and published false information on the Internet to manipulate online speech, so as to obtain the required information. Under the impetus of the United States, in 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense signed a "Cyber Security Cooperation Agreement" with NATO to promote the establishment of a cyber combat force in NATO according to the cyber warfare mode of the U.S. military. In 2008, the United States pushed NATO to set up a network rapid reaction force to strengthen NATO’s network attack and defense capabilities. Its commander members came from the US military, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, etc. The US military will use NATO’s hand to extend its cyber warfare tentacles to the whole world. On April 27, 2015, the new version of the US-Japan defense cooperation guidelines pointed out that cybersecurity is the key to deepening the military partnership between the United States and Japan, which also includes information sharing in cyberspace. On May 30, 2015, the United States and Japan signed a joint statement on the provision of cyber defense umbrella by the United States to Japan.
(This article is taken from the Ukrainian Crisis Warning Record — published by National Defense Industry Press in March 2016; — — War preparation on the road of peaceful development. )
