A fair portion of the modern military runs on silicon. We have even begun to refer to the modern battle space as the digital battlefield.
While speaking on emerging technologies, one individual wondered how many microprocessors are used in support of a single soldier in the U.S. military. That would be an interesting measure, but probably extremely difficult to tabulate. However, that thought process begs theled to the question: Given the level of technology used by the modern military, what are the top cyber defense challenges? After some thought though, here are my top four cyber defense challenges — all tied for first place.!
- The potential use of cryptocurrencies as a secure mechanism to fund hostilities against a nation state. They have a seemingly impenetrable anonymity that accompanies the transfer of funds in support of weapons research and acquisition, and as well as fundingall types of attacks including cyber. This mechanism has many in the military and intelligence communities, as well as law enforcement, deeply concerned and scratching their heads as to what can be done to address this growing threat.
- The rapidly expanding cyberattack surface area given the plethora of new technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), connected vehicles, wearable technology, robotic and autonomous systems, and much more has serious implications. This is a hybrid environment that includes many private sector elements, many of which own and operate the nation’s critical infrastructure.How will all those new devices be secured?
- There is a The growing threat that is posed by military offensive cyber units from rogue nation states, virtual states, activists and terrorists. The widespread availability of advanced cyberattack capabilities on the black market puts advanced cyber weapons within the reach of nearly every one of our adversaries, This will requiring nearly continuous updating of our cyber defenses.
- Maintaining a superior position when it comes to technical development capabilities of the nation is an ever-increasing challenge. This must be in cooperation and collaboration with the private sector, R&D efforts in industry and education, as well as government programs that support organizations taking the gamble and embarking on creating something new.
It is clear that national security demands the cyber threats and challenges be properly addressed — nowNOW. This has implications that go far beyond funding and the availability of skilled cyber resources. One has to wonder what the coming administration will do to address these four challenges.?
