Trump administration plans to create independent military Cyber Command

Washington: US officials say the Trump administration is pushing ahead with Obama-era plans to create an independent military Cyber Command in hopes of intensifying America's ability to wage cyberwar against the Islamic State group and other foes.

Currently the cyber command, which was created in 2009, is essentially part of the National Security Agency. But the current plan would break it off into an independent command.

The belief is that the command will be able to more aggressively pursue cyberwar once freed from the NSA's primary mission of information gathering. 

The move reflects the escalating threat of cyberattacks and intrusions from other nation states, terrorist groups and hackers, and comes as the US faces ever-widening fears about Russian hacking following Moscow's efforts to meddle in the 2016 American election.