US must improve defenses, cyberattack response -Pentagon nominee

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WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. government must improve its ability to defend against and respond to escalating cyberattacks on its computer networks, President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary Ashton Carter told Congress on Wednesday.

"We need to improve our defenses but we also need to improve our abilities to respond," Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing. "Those responses can be in cyberspace or in other ways, but certainly they should include the option to respond in cyberspace."

Obama last year blamed North Korea for a cyberattack on Sony (Swiss: SONC.SW - news) Pictures and imposed new sanctions to cut its remaining links to the international financial system.

The White House on Monday proposed a 10 percent boost to spending on cybersecurity to $14 billion to better protect federal and private networks from growing hacking threats.

Carter said being transparent about Washington's views on cyberattacks served an important deterrent effect.

"Deterrence requires that a potential aggressor know that you have the capability to respond ... and would respond," he said. He did not elaborate.

U.S. officials have said for years cyberattacks from another country can constitute an act of war and that they reserve the right to respond with the full spectrum of U.S. capabilities, but they remain tight-lipped about offensive cyber-capabilities.

NATO leaders last year agreed a large-scale cyberattack on a member country could be considered an attack on the entire U.S.-led alliance, potentially triggering a military response. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Lisa Lambert; Editing by James Dalgleish)