US military debated hacking Libyan air defenses
Obama urged to keep Ferrari in garage for time being
The Obama administration intensely debated whether to hack the computer networks that run Libya's air-defense system in the days leading up to the US-led strikes against Qaddafi forces, The New York Times reports.
Administration officials and some military officers ultimately rejected the idea, citing the precedent it might set for other nations, including Russia and China, the paper says. They were also unsure if the president had the authority to approve a hack attack without informing Congress. Once the March raids on forces loyal to Qaddafi were unleashed in March, US forces used conventional aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones to strike Libya's air-defense missiles and radar.
“These cybercapabilities are still like the Ferrari that you keep in the garage and only take out for the big race and not just for a run around town, unless nothing else can get you there,” one Obama administration official told the NYT.
A senior Defense Department official said: “They were seriously considered because they could cripple Libya's air defense and lower the risk to pilots, but it just didn't pan out.”
The NYT article is here. ®
Similar topics
Broader topics
Narrower topics
- Alabama
- Authentication
- Black Hat
- California
- Central Intelligence Agency
- Common Vulnerability Scoring System
- Cybercrime
- Cybersecurity
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
- Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act
- Data Breach
- Data Protection
- Data Theft
- DDoS
- Digital certificate
- Encryption
- Exploit
- Federal government of the United States
- Firewall
- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
- Hacker
- Hacking
- Identity Theft
- Infosec
- Kenna Security
- NCSC
- New Mexico
- Palo Alto Networks
- Password
- PC
- Phishing
- PSU
- Quantum Computing
- Ransomware
- REvil
- Spamming
- Spyware
- Supercomputer
- Surveillance
- TLS
- Trojan
- Trusted Platform Module
- United States Armed Forces
- United States Department of Commerce
- Vulnerability
- Wannacry
- Zero trust
- ZX Spectrum