Transforming the Cyberspace Mission: Staying Ahead of Tomorrow’s Threats Today

Increasingly capable cyber adversaries target the U.S. via influence operations, efforts to compromise sensitive data, and attempts to gain access to government networks and weapons systems, according to US Cyber Command. Incidents such as the cyberattack on software company SolarWinds and the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline’s computer systems are more than cybercrimes. They are real national security threats. The Department of Defense (DoD) and the military rely more heavily on secure, data-driven networks and are looking to extend operations into multi-clouds, as well as push more data and decision making to the tactical edge. As a result, defense agencies will need to continue the shift from perimeter defenses to in-depth security controls and technologies that keep pace with today’s emerging sophisticated cyber threats.

A key area of interest, according to DoD officials, is to increase the department’s focus on Zero Trust security, a concept centered on the belief that organizations should not automatically trust anyone or anything inside or outside its perimeters and instead must verify anything and everything trying to connect to its systems before granting access. Maintaining cyber hygiene and cyber accountability is a major objective, as well.

USCYBERCOM is focused on strategic competition with China and Russia through the operational approach of persistent engagement, implementing the Defend Forward cyber strategy in support of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s vision for integrated deterrence. At the same time, the DoD is improving the efficiency and effectiveness of DoD Intelligence Network operations and defensive cyberspace missions. 

In this Cyber Mission Summit, we will dig deeper into the challenges that the DoD must overcome and the people, processes, and technology that must be in place to truly compete, deter, defend, and fight in cyberspace.