US establishes military network monitoring center in Pacific — South China Morning Post
The United States has expanded its cybersecurity presence in Hawaii and established a regional center to monitor military communications networks in the Pacific region. As South China Morning Post reports, the new measures are intended to help detect threats and communications disruptions.
Personnel were transferred from Maryland to Hawaii as part of the Cyber Defence Forces Pacific initiative. Brigadier General Michael Smith, director for command, control, communications, computer systems and cyber defense at US Indo-Pacific Command, said this would provide an additional layer of cyber defense in the region. The number of specialists relocated was not disclosed.
Monitoring cables and disruptions
The personnel were assigned to the Pacific Command of the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). Last month, this unit also opened a regional military communications monitoring center. It is intended to detect problems related to damage to undersea cables, interference in the electromagnetic spectrum, and service disruptions originating in the United States that affect operations in the Pacific.
Colonel Michael Glad, head of DISA Pacific Field Command, said that last year's assessment showed that US forces were not necessarily adequately prepared for regional needs. According to him, the new center will increase the number of personnel at the command headquarters by about 20%.
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Risks to communications
Most intercontinental internet traffic passes through undersea cables. Damage to them can disrupt communications or force data to be rerouted via alternative routes. The cables may also become targets for hostile forces seeking to intercept information.
A study by the China Strategic Risks Institute for the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission noted that most undersea cable damage worldwide is caused by accidents or natural events. At the same time, the authors warned that China is developing capabilities to disrupt such infrastructure. They described connections between the continental United States, Hawaii and Guam as particularly vulnerable because of the limited number of alternative routes.
Washington previously accused the Volt Typhoon group, which the United States says is linked to the Chinese state, of compromising critical infrastructure networks, including in Guam. Beijing has repeatedly rejected accusations of state-sponsored hacking. The new US initiatives were not directly linked to China.
