US President Barack Obama US President Barack Obama has ordered his senior national security and intelligence officials to draw up a list of potential overseas targets for US cyber-attacks, a top secret presidential directive obtained by the British newspaper The Guardian reveals.
The document states that cyber attacks can be launched as part of \"anticipatory action taken against imminent threats,\" but should comply with US and international law and receive approval from the president if they are \"reasonably likely to result in significant consequences.\"
Experts and former officials have described the United States as among the best countries in the world at penetrating adversaries\' computer networks. They refer to the Stuxnet virus, developed jointly by the US government and Israel, Stuxnet was highly sophisticated and reportedly damaged nuclear enrichment centrifuges at Iran\'s Natanz facility.