Strategic Offensive Cyber Operations: Capabilities, Limitations, and Role of the Intelligence Community

Abstract

In 2015, the Director of National Intelligence began his discussion of global threats during his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee stating that “[Cyber] attacks against us are increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication and severity of impact.” In the past, rhetoric around cyber security has focused on defensive measures – strengthening US systems to prevent cyber-attacks from disclosing sensitive information or causing service outages for critical infrastructure. More recently, intelligence, national security, and military leaders have discussed the need for offensive cyber abilities in order to understand and deter the operations of our adversaries. Advancements in cyber capabilities are outpacing understanding of the risks and implications of cyber conflicts. This chapter explores the technology behind sophisticated offensive cyber-attacks and the role of the intelligence community (IC) in collecting zero-day errors and writing code in order to develop the US cyber-arsenal. This will be investigated using a case-study framework focused on events of covert operations to collect information or damage infrastructure that were allegedly carried out by state actors. Using information about the cyber tools used today, predictions about the future of cyber sabotage and espionage will be presented.