The United States is at risk of cyber attacks in part because of private-sector vulnerabilities, according to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
GEN Martin E. Dempsey, cited in an article by the Defense Department’s DoD News, said attackers often target civilian infrastructure and businesses because military networks have formidable defenses.
“As the senior military officer of the most powerful military on the planet, I like to have the playing field tilted to my advantage,” he said. “I’d like the enemy to play uphill and us to play downhill.”
Kevin Coleman, a fellow at cybersecurity firm SilverRhino and blogger for C4ISRNet, noted similar remarks that Dempsey had made in a televised interview. Coleman, in a recent blog post, wrote: “This is by far the most open acknowledgement of the military, defense and intelligence challenges when it comes to cyber domain. For years now subject matter experts have warned that the cost of the infrastructure required to develop and launch cyber weapons is small. Every country, criminal enterprise, terrorist group and even individuals can compete on the world stage when it comes to cyber capabilities. The knowledge and information components that are used to create these weapons are both widely available.”
In the DoD News report, Dempsey added his voice to the call for cybersecurity legislation.
“In cyber, we have competitors, and we have competitors who maybe aren’t as constrained by legal systems and freedoms as we are,” he said. “It’s going to be challenging to navigate this race.”
