SHANE MCLEOD: The Pentagon has admitted that a foreign intelligence service stole 24,000 files from a US defence contractor earlier this year.
TIMOTHY MCDONALD:The US military has a massive budget and the world's most powerful arsenal at its disposal. But brute force isn't everything.
WILLIAM LYNN : Keystrokes originating in one country can impact the other side of the globe in the blink of an eye. In the 21st century bits and bytes can be as threatening as bullets and bombs.
TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The deputy defence secretary William J Lynn has announced a new cyber defence strategy.
It's aimed at bolstering network security by layering defences and improving cooperation with other network operators.
The Pentagon will introduce sensors, software and signatures to its networks to detect and stop attacks before they affect US operations.
The strategy also calls for cooperation with other government agencies, defence contractors and allies including Australia.
WILLIAM LYNN: Although no network will ever be perfectly secure our military networks today are better defended and our cyber hygiene more effective than before.
On the international front we are partnered with Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and NATO. And under the president's international strategy we will seek greater cooperation with more nations in the coming months.
TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright says the Pentagon might adopt a more aggressive posture towards cyber attacks.
He says it's important to deter hacking activity by increasing the consequences for the hackers.
But not everyone is impressed with the new strategy.
Stewart Baker is a cyber security expert. He says the new measures are not enough.
STEWART BAKER: This unfortunately is a little minimalist in terms of its likelihood of changing the nature of the struggle we're engaged in.
TIMOTHY MCDONALD: William Lynn says one of the main concerns at the moment is the role of military contractors who hold significant amounts of sensitive data on their servers.
He says they're often the target of intruders.
WILLIAM LYNN: It is therefore of significant concern that over the past decade terabytes of data have been extracted by foreign intruders from corporate networks of defence companies. Indeed in a single intrusion this past March 24,000 files were taken.
TIMOTHY MCDONALD: He says it's not the only attack. Contractors in the past have lost significant amounts of sensitive data.
WILLIAM LYNN: A great deal of it concerns our most sensitive systems including aircraft avionics, surveillance technologies, satellite communication systems and network security protocols.
The cyber exploitation being perpetrated against defence industry cuts across a wide swath of crucial military hardware extending from missile tracking systems and satellite navigation devices to UAVs and the joint strike fighter.
Current countermeasures have not stopped this outflow of sensitive information. We need to do more to guard our digital storehouse of design innovation.
TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The admission came just two days after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have stolen 90,000 files from government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
In a statement on its website the company confirmed the attack but downplayed its significance.
EXTRACT FROM STATEMENT BY BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON: Booz Allen Hamilton has confirmed today that the posting of certain data files on the internet yesterday was the result of an illegal attack.
We are conducting a full review of the nature and the extent of the attack. At this time we do not believe that the attack extended beyond data pertaining to a learning management system for a government agency.
TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The company says it's communicating with clients and analysing the nature of the attack and the files affected.
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