US Defense Department plans to quintuple cyber security forces

The US Department of Defense is embarking on a colossal expansion of its cyber security forces from the current number of 900 to 4,900, US defense officials say.

Based on the decision, the Pentagon is planning three separate forces under its Cyber Command, the unnamed officials said on Sunday.

The forces include “national mission forces” to protect national computer networks such as systems that support the power grid and critical infrastructure, “combat mission forces” to launch cyber attacks against Washington’s purported enemies and “cyber protection forces” to safeguard the Pentagon’s computer systems.

The news comes a day after the hacker group Anonymous shut down the website of the US Justice Department’s Sentencing Commission on Saturday.

“The threat is real and we need to react to it,” said William J. Lynn III, a former deputy defense secretary and Pentagon expert on cyber security strategy.

The plan is partially initiated by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who warned in October 2012 that the US was facing an imminent “cyber-Pearl Harbor.”

The Pentagon chief claimed that the US is vulnerable to foreign computer hackers who could paralyze the country’s power grid, transportation and other public infrastructures.