Top Pentagon contractors have been bleeding secrets for years as a result of penetrations of their computer networks, current and former national security officials say.
What's really insulting is that these foes are stealing our weapons secrets in their pajamas. Could we at leas make them do dead drops and recruit while worrying about being discovered, and all that tough spy stuff?
Seriously, can't we stop this. Isn't some data important enough to be cut off from the Internet?
But no, we let them email in the espionage--and it works.
UPDATE: Surely, this is relevant:
Hack the United States with a crippling computer virus, and the Pentagon may respond with smart bombs and commando teams.
If a Chinese commando team broke into Lockheed Martin and seized hard drives, we'd have a military response. This area of cyber-attack, as I've long argued, should not be restricted to the online world. Online attacks harm us in the real world and there is no reason we should be restricted to the online world for a counter-attack. If we know where the hackers have their computer terminals, why shouldn't we have the right to bomb it? Maybe the response should be online. But let's not get too focused on responding that way. War is war. Consider the objective and not the weapon.
