Pentagon says U.S. needs to beef up ability to deter cyber attacks

Aerial view of the United States military headquarters, the Pentagon, September 28, 2008.

/Jason Reed

The U.S. military needs to improve its ability to deter attacks on its computer networks, and is working to make it more costly for U.S. adversaries, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told a Senate hearing on Tuesday."We are not where we need to be in our deterrent posture," Work told the Senate Armed Services Committee.Work said three recent attacks, a massive breach of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, an attack on the unclassified network of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and an earlier attack on Sony Pictures, were carried out by three different state actors, but did not elaborate. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)