The US military needs to be more open about its development of offensive cyber weapons and spell out when it will use them as it grapples with an increasing barrage of attacks by foreign hackers. A former Number 2 uniformed officer James Cartwright said that the US needed to step up its game and talk about its offensive capabilities and train to them.

Cartwright, who was a four-star Marine Corps general said that by making a bigger song and dance about what the US can do would help to act as a deterrent to hackers. Cartwright told Reuters that the increasing intensity and frequency of network attacks by hackers underscored the need for an effective deterrent.

Something which is secret can't deter anyone, because if you don't know it's there, it doesn't scare you. Current and former U.S. officials are tight-lipped about any specific weapons. However, it is widely acknowledged the United States has both offensive and defensive ways to respond to escalating and increasingly destructive attacks from foreign parts.

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