Pentagon: cyberattacks are acts of war (VIDEO)

The Pentagon has decided that cyberattacks emanating from another country can constitute an act of war, the Wall Street Journal reports. This conclusion will give commanders for the first time the option of launching retaliatory military strikes.

Officials said the strategy will send a message to hackers trying to disrupt the United States and threaten its security.

The message conveyed will be: "If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks," an official told the Wall Street Journal.

Any cyberattack that threatens widespread civilian casualties could be treated as an act of aggression, the New York Times reports.

The Pentagon will issue portions next month of the new strategy that widens the laws of armed conflict to include cyberattacks, the Guardian reports.

The new strategy, which will enable the United States to respond militarily to attacks on its computer and IT infrastructure, will have significant implications for international law and be seen as a step towards the "militarization of cyberspace," it states.

Sami Saydjari, a former Pentagon cyber expert told the Guardian the new rule will help protect the United States.

"The U.S. is vulnerable to sabotage in defense, power, telecommunications, banking. An attack on any one of those essential infrastructures could be as damaging as any kinetic attack on U.S. soil," he said.

The move comes in response to recent attacks on the Pentagon's systems and Iran's nuclear program.

The Pentagon is looking at the issue of how to respond to attacks by individuals, the Wall Street Journal reports. One argument is that if there is a cyberweapon that is strong enough to break down part of the U.S. electric grid, for example, only a government is sophisticated enough to create that kind of weapon and therefore should have the responsibility of keeping it out of rogue hands.

Meanwhile, the United States has developed its own cyberweapons and tools to enhance how it engages in cyber warfare, the Washington Post reports.

Cyber technologies will now be integrated into a formal structure of approved capabilities, it states.

"Whether it’s a tank, an M-16 or a computer virus, it’s going to follow the same rules so that we can understand how to employ it, when you can use it, when you can’t, what you can and can’t use,” a senior military official told the Washington Post.