Obama to expand cyberwarfare capabilities

WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will move to expand, streamline and protect the Defense Department's cyberwarfare capabilities, sources say.

With increasing attempts by computer hackers in China, Russia and elsewhere to break into and sabotage federal and private computer systems, Obama is set to propose a far larger cyberwarfare program than the $17 billion, five-year effort approved by Congress last year, unnamed military and intelligence officials told Tuesday's New York Times.

Part of the expansion will be the appointment of a new White House official to coordinate cyberwarfare efforts, hopefully ending a running bureaucratic battle over who is responsible for defending against cyberattacks, the newspaper said.

Among the computer warfare innovations reportedly being considered by the Pentagon is one that would allow a U.S. programmer to secretly enter a server in a foreign country and destroy a "botnet" before it could be deployed in the United States. Botnets are malicious programs that let users commandeer PCs and use them to spread code to other machines, creating vast networks of zombie computers that can be controlled remotely.

The Times reported the Defense Department has yet to issue any broad authorizations for cyberwar engagements.