BLUF: Cybersecurity in the ai age

We are accustomed to the usual stories of hacking and cybersecurity breaches compromising IT assets at some of America's largest and most consequential enterprises, both civilian and government. While there have been new advances in cyber offense brought about by the AI revolution that are changing how we defend these systems, we can often lose sight of how the cyber landscape is affecting the very real and equally important physical infrastructure that underpins our national security and each of our daily lives.

Avid readers of the BLUF (Thank you!) are probably already familiar with stories about cyberattacks against drinking and wastewater treatment plants in at least 12 states (that have been publicly identified), this is just the tip of the iceberg. A story from Bloomberg this week detailing how hackers were able to access the propulsion system of an oil supertanker off the coast of Texas reminded us just how vulnerable our physical infrastructure can be.

The FBI and the Coast Guard are still investigating the incident, but the news has certainly raised alarms in the maritime sector where malicious attacks could potentially grind ocean-based trade to a halt.

It's stories like these that reinforce just how critical integrated cybersecurity needs to be in every system we have going forward. As cyberoffensive capabilities continue to improve rapidly, defensive capabilities must keep up. America has no choice but to address what very clearly is a defining national security threat in the coming decades, or face dire consequences.

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