According to Paul Nakasone, outgoing commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, cyber threats from China are different from those the U.S. has previously dealt with.
In remarks to the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party earlier this week, Nakasone said that these threats, which often make use of malware, can create vulnerabilities within critical infrastructure systems, the Department of Defense said on Thursday.
When malware is uncovered in critical infrastructures, such as those that provide Americans with water, electricity and fuel, “the first thing that we need to do is to make sure that we get them out,” said Nakasone, a seven-time Wash100 Award winner. The next step is staying vigilant.
“This is not an episodic threat that we’re going to face. This is persistent … we have to operate every day; we have to have a vigilance. We have to have offensive and defensive capabilities,” he emphasized.
Though China is a near-peer adversary, Nakasone expects the U.S. to maintain an advantage in the cyber domain. He credits this belief to U.S. cyber capabilities and the people behind them, such as those working within CYBERCOM and the National Security Agency.
Nakasone noted that the U.S. has a unique offensive cyber capability and that bringing awareness to it could deter cyberattacks from China.
“We do have the capability, and we’re very, very good—the best. And in terms of the way that we communicate it, we communicate it in many different ways—from our policymakers who have these discussions to the exercises that we conduct to the real-world examples that, that we do with a series of different partners,” he said.
Nakasone assumed the roles of CYBERCOM commander and director of the National Security Agency in May 2018. He retired from these roles today.
Learn more about U.S. cyber activities at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6. David McKeown, deputy chief information security officer for cybersecurity and senior information security officer for the DOD, will keynote the event. Click here for more information, and click here to register.
