Cybersecurity News & Notes – August 8, 2016

In Case You Missed It:  In a sign of the growing importance of cyber operations in warfare, the Obama administration plans to elevate the status of the Pentagon's Cyber Command.  The U.S. Cyber Command, or USCYBERCOM, was created on June 23, 2009.  Its stated mission is to, among other things, "conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations" to "ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries."  Currently, it is a "sub-unified combatant command."  The plan by the Obama administration is, according to reports, to make it a "'unified command,' equal to combat branches of the military such as the Central and Pacific Commands."  This news comes on the heels of reports that the U.S. has conducted cyber attacks against ISIS.