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Opinion>Cybersecurity
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill


THE GUAM HACK SHOULD BE A CYBERSECURITY WAKEUP CALL

by Peter Altabef and Reece Kurtenbach, opinion contributors - 06/15/23 9:00 AM
ET

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by Peter Altabef and Reece Kurtenbach, opinion contributors - 06/15/23 9:00 AM
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Defense Information Systems Agency Director, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert
Skinner, testifies before a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity
hearing to examine enterprise cybersecurity to protect the Department of Defense
information networks, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The U.S., along with its key “Five Eyes” intelligence partners, issued an
unusual joint statement last month that a Chinese government espionage group had
hacked into critical infrastructure systems in Guam. Although the systems remain
intact, the agencies are concerned that the hackers’ goal could be to disrupt or
prevent communications between the U.S. and Asia during a military confrontation
in the region.

Importantly, the hack was discovered by Microsoft, which then shared the
information with the government. This demonstrates the most important point for
deterring and responding to increased challenges to our critical
infrastructure’s cybersecurity: Public-private collaboration is an indispensable
condition for success.



The Guam event is not an isolated threat: Microsoft has also reported that the
share of cyberattacks by nation-states targeting critical
infrastructure rose from 20 percent to 40 percent in just one year, from 2021 to
2022.

U.S. critical infrastructure systems’ vulnerability reflects a sobering reality:
The vast majority of the nation’s infrastructure systems are privately owned and
operated. Nearly 170,000 separate entities make up the country’s water and
wastewater systems, for instance, and each must be secure and resilient to
protect the communities they serve. But many are owned by small- and
medium-sized organizations that often lack the kind of robust cyber defenses
necessary to keep pace with rapidly evolving threats.

Disruption of any of those systems would threaten national security, economic
stability and public health. Yet, they remain at risk as geopolitical threats
rise. According to the 2023 Annual Threat Assessment from the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence (DNI), nation-states — in particular, China,
Russia, North Korea and Iran — and criminal groups, which are converging more
and more with nation-state actors, pose the most significant cyber threats to
U.S. critical infrastructure. 

The recognition of that threat is rising. In January, The Conference Board
(where we are trustees of the Committee for Economic Development and co-chairs
of the technology and innovation committee) released a 2023 C-Suite Outlook
that showed that over 80 percent of global CEOs believe that cyberattacks will
intensify over the coming year outside the Ukraine war theater.

Sharing information on threat detection, mitigation and remediation is crucial
to fortifying the critical infrastructure ecosystem. Forums involving both the
private sector and government have shown early signs of success through the
“Shields Up” initiative, which provides recommendations and resources to help
keep stakeholders informed about threats and other CISA initiatives. These
efforts have largely been voluntary thus far, however. There are few
requirements today for reporting cyberattacks, even for breaches of critical
systems. The Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act, which
Congress passed in March 2022, will change that. But a final rule implementing
reporting procedures is not due to be released until September 2025. We must
expedite that timeline to the degree possible and ensure that the rule is
developed in collaboration with the private sector.

We must also develop minimum cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure
firms. Zero Trust models, including simple steps such as multifactor
authentication, should be standard practice. According to IBM’s 2022 Cost of
Data Breach report, 79 percent of critical infrastructure organizations have not
adopted Zero Trust, highlighting a clear weakness in security practices.



Implementing new frameworks for incident reporting and minimum requirements
requires close interaction between government regulators and the private sector.
We should make every effort to harmonize new standards to avoid conflicts with
various preexisting federal, industry and local requirements. Harmonization also
lowers the barrier to compliance and promotes quicker adoption.

It is also essential to identify and prioritize the vulnerable sites and
components in each sector where a breach could cause the most significant
economic damage and develop resiliency strategies to mitigate the impact of a
cyberattack. Prioritizing these entities should require each to perform
comprehensive reviews of their supply chains of components, assessing risks
based on factors related to the country of origin, the manufacturer’s record and
the component’s sensitivity if compromised. The federal government should make
more resources, including technical assistance and vulnerability assessments,
more widely available to address the challenges facing small- and medium-sized
businesses as well as state and local governments that lack adequate resources
and staff to implement robust cyber defenses.

Policymakers must also recognize that the cybersecurity challenge will not be
solved by a single framework or one-time investment, but instead, will be a
continuous challenge as threats evolve. Additional federal resources are needed
to propel research in advanced technologies, including quantum-resistant systems
and artificial intelligence applications for cyber defense, and the private
sector should increase investments as well. Most urgently, the nation must scale
up the U.S. cyber workforce, equipping workers with the necessary skills and
tracks for continuous learning to keep pace with the evolution of threats.



As the number and sophistication of cyberattacks grow, the country must focus on
bolstering the security and resilience of its critical infrastructure — before
that resilience is tested on a large scale. The key to success is closer
collaboration between the public and private sectors. We especially need more
robust information sharing in both directions on threats and attacks, minimum
cybersecurity standards, new frameworks for incident reporting and the
development of minimum standards and means to identify vulnerabilities in
advance, including comprehensive reviews of supply chains and building
resiliency to minimize the damage and time for getting back up and operating.

Something is rotten in the state of Russia Why Europe and America are going in
opposite directions on youth transgender medicine

Peter Altabef is chair and chief executive officer of Unisys.

Reece Kurtenbach is the president, chairman and chief executive officer of
Daktronics.



The authors are trustees of the Committee for Economic Development of The
Conference Board and co-chair its technology & innovation committee.

Tags Critical infrastructure protection cyberattacks Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency Politics of the United States

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be
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