If \u201cmutually assured cyber destruction” were to occur, one Marine Corps leader said, authoritarian nations such as China might have more to lose than the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top national security experts have warned that despite the United States\u2019 cyber prowess, the country is vulnerable to cyberattacks because of how interconnected society is with essential services and the internet. But in the case of a cyber catastrophe, \u201cwe\u2019ll still be America. We\u2019ll be a little beaten up, a little dirty, but China won\u2019t be China anymore because they will not maintain control,\u201d said Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, head of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and the deputy commandant for combat development and integration. Smith spoke at an AFCEA Northern Virginia chapter lunch Nov. 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith said if much of the country goes offline, places like Plano, Texas, will essentially be the same. While certain elements of daily life could get ugly, residents could still rely on local-, county-, state- and national-level law enforcement entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China, however, as an authoritarian state, must maintain central control, Smith said. This, in turn, become an Achilles\u2019 heel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf I take all the cameras offline and all the mechanisms of control cease, Shanghai is not Shanghai anymore six months after that event,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything within China, which has one time zone, by the way \u2026 should have nine, but they have one \u2026 because they have to maintain central control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith added that the weakness within authoritarian regimes should be exploited more through offensive cyber means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If \u201cmutually assured cyber destruction” were to occur, one Marine Corps leader says, authoritarian nations such as China might have more to lose than the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":10,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"10":{"categories":["asia-pacific","global","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"asia-pacific"}}},"categories":[10,106,29,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3268],"class_list":["post-10887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyber","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KYCKAZSFOFFITH5P7EVPDRV7PY","arc_canonical_url":"\/international\/2019\/11\/18\/chinas-achilles-heel-when-it-comes-to-cyberspace\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n