Kali on My Mind

US Cyber Defense

One thing that has been made crystal clear over the last few years is the United States need to improve it’s cyber defense in both the private and public sectors. Too many organizations and tools essential to our safety and our economy are vulnerable targets to anyone sophisticated enough to gain access. And with the rise in APTs, specifically those with connections to Russia or China, it is no longer an option to allow these targets to be vulnerable and hope for the best.

The good news is that many private organizations are stepping up and attempting to harden our cyber defenses. According to NBC News after a meeting with President Biden Google committed to $10 billion and Microsoft committed to $20 billion over the next five years to the improvement of cyber security. IBM also plans to train 150,000 over the next three years. Apple will attempt to strengthen the tech supply chain and Amazon will make its security awareness training available to the public. These are all fantastic steps towards a more effective national cyber defense.

But because of the nature of cyber security this alone will not fix things. Cyber defense isn’t a one time expense and then everything is taken care of for years. Just like for an individual organization, if we’re serious as a country about defending ourselves online we need to continually make the time and spend the money necessary to stay on the cutting edge of the technology and tactics used by malicious actors and APTs specifically. It only takes one creative hacker to find a way around a firewall, or exploit a new vulnerability that we haven’t seen before. These techniques are constantly evolving and we have to constantly improve with them if we even want a chance at staying ahead of the game.