Not to be too cynical, but my first thought when I read the warning was, “Yeah, right.” Any former NATO pilot accepting a contract to train China’s fighter pilots knows full well that they are signing up to provide China with an intellectual advantage, no matter how much they obfuscate the mission statement.
It is this intellectual advantage, the ability to garner information through open-source intelligence, that carries such a high risk to the defense sector. Mention was made at DoDIIS, more than once, of the need to invest in operational security (OPSEC), the need to keep the mundane private, and the need to avoid sharing too much information on social network sites about one’s activities.
Government-corporate partnerships are key to cyber-resilience
When conflict happens, it’s too late to begin forging the relationships that foster cyber-resilience. Sharing information is required now, in the quieter times, across agencies and across borders. The technology is there, the will is there, but the policy will require some slight adjustments to make international intelligence sharing a more regular reality.
Mid-level bureaucracy often gets in the way of the forging of relationships across borders. As my sage father (who may have been responsible for my own adoption of the mindset that it is “better to beg forgiveness than ask permission”) would say, our systems constipate when middle-grade executives hesitate to make a decision out of fear that it will blow back, and their career advancement will be stymied.
The US DIA and DoD are on the hook to get past such bureaucratic roadblocks and find a way to share information with other countries and share intelligence with their partners within the private sector. This is what is required of a sustainable partnership. Companies also must adapt and adjust their “sales-centric” approach to engagements. While competition in the vendor marketplace is very much a zero-sum world, such is not the case when it comes to protecting national infrastructure, specifically that of the defense establishment. There has never been a clearer need for all to be rowing in unison to protect their common customers.
Companies need to step up in the defense against Chinese cyber incursions
Let there be no doubt, this is the opportunity for companies to step up, demonstrate partnership and be counted. Why? If the collective wisdom isn’t brought together, then we should not be surprised when these same opportunities to collectively protect one and another’s hide are exploited by China.
