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Military leaders warn U.S. must prepare for cyber, infrastructure threat

Speakers at military conference push for rapid action in face of domestic vulnerabilities

Military leaders warn U.S. must prepare for cyber, infrastructure threat

Speakers at military conference push for rapid action in face of domestic vulnerabilities

This is where all of our cyber operations are conducted as acting director, Brandon Wales leads the cyber security and infrastructure security agency at DH S. It's an agency inundated lately with reports of ransomware attacks on pipelines, meat packing plants, public transportation and more. Are we on defense right now? Well, ransomware is *** scourge that, that's been affecting American businesses and American governments. It is an epidemic that needs to be aggressive action needs to be taken on. We want to make the US law enforcement community have better ability to go after, find them, track the money and get it back. But right now, it doesn't sound like you've made it that hard. It's hitting companies more than ever. Now, we recognize that the US government needs to do more and private sector needs to do more, especially if it doesn't pay to pay *** new report out this week. By cyber reason. *** Boston based Cyber analytics firm finds 80% of businesses that paid *** ransom demand were attacked yet again later. Should companies be banned from paying ransom? I I'm not prepared to answer that question today, but what I can say is we want to make it much harder for ransomware operators to be successful. Two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner Democrat Roy Blunt from Missouri Republican want greater regulation of Cryptocurrency, ransomware payments. Do you support their efforts to restrict Cryptocurrency from being used in ransomware payments? What I can say today is that the US government is taking aggressive action to be able to better track money, better identify ransomware operators so that we can go after them. Whale says consumers and businesses must take aggressive action as well. First, make sure that your systems are backed up the backup. Is it critical that it is not connected to your computer? Absolutely. Second use multi factor identification. It's going to prompt me for *** second password or *** pin code. Exactly. Third update and patch your systems just make sure that those automatic patches are turned on. Fourth. Make sure your security solutions are up to date. Everyone should be using some baseline anti virus basic defense to take as ransomware demands doubled in just one year in Washington. I'm chief, national investigative correspondent, Mark Albert.
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Military leaders warn U.S. must prepare for cyber, infrastructure threat

Speakers at military conference push for rapid action in face of domestic vulnerabilities

The United States must immediately get ready for domestic, cyber-enabled attacks on critical domestic infrastructure and guard against foreign-initiated information operations targeted at the American people, according to speakers and panelists at an Association of the U.S. Army symposium on Wednesday in Arlington, Virginia.“When we’re talking about threats to critical infrastructure, it will be in the homeland and we must prepare for that,” Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, Commanding General of U.S. Army Cyber Command, told the attendees at a 2023 "Hot Topics" series.Mark Bristow, director of the Cyber Infrastructure Protection Innovation Center (CIPIC) at the non-profit Mitre Corporation, a research group in McLean, Virginia, said modern adversaries increasingly no longer distinguish between military and civilian populations when launching cyberattacks, seeking the largest disruption possible.“It’s part of their plan to influence civilian populations and to change our political calculus,” Bristow said. Such indiscriminate attacks, he said, are “meant to degrade Americans’ trust and degrade their willingness to fight.”Ransomware attacks on hospitals and Colonial Pipeline were cited as recent examples of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure that cause serious impacts, affecting patient care, transportation, and commerce.In a keynote address, Patrick Murphy, former Under Secretary of the Army, cautioned that with 85% of infrastructure in the United States privately held, the government and the military cannot act alone to defend this infrastructure and urged an expansion of public-private partnerships to harden those assets.War in Ukraine foreshadows civilian threatCiting Russian tactics in its unprovoked war in Ukraine as another example of the ominous cyber threat to civilians, Samantha Lewis, manager of Strategic Geopolitics-Global Issues at Recorded Future — a cyber security firm in Somerville, Massachusetts — noted that Russia has shifted its priority to targeting things like hospitals, power grids, and access to water with both traditional munitions and cyber sabotage. “You might wake up in the morning and decide it’s not worth going to fight when you don’t know where you’re going to get water,” Lewis said.Such tactics that expand a traditional battlefield to all parts of society can potentially undermine a population’s decision to defend itself, several speakers noted. Col. Sean Stinchon, director of foreign intelligence at the Department of the Army, based at the Pentagon, pointed to American intelligence assessments overestimating Afghan security forces’ will to fight and underestimating the staying power of Ukrainian forces as two examples of faulty assumptions on the battlefield. “We got the invasion part right, but we didn’t get the will to fight,” Stinchon said. “The intelligence community is fundamentally reassessing how we evaluate ‘will to fight,’” he said. Information warfareAnother lesson from the war in Ukraine is the now-ubiquitous nature of information warfare as a key tactic on the battlefield. “When it comes to the information domain domestically,” asked Lt. Gen. Barrett at Army Cyber Command, “how do we make soldiers and families resilient to that, so our adversaries cannot compromise their will to fight?” Carla O is a ‘Hiring Our Heroes’ military fellow with the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit in Washington D.C. She served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2018-2023. Mark Albert and Tamika Cody contributed to this report. If you know of cyber security concerns you want us to investigate, please send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.WATCH THE HEARST TELEVISION NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT’S ONGOING CYBER SECURITY COVERAGE: Top Cyber Leader Warns of Ransomware ‘Scourge’ ‘Operation Blackout’ Tests Law Enforcement Response to Simulated Election Cyberattack Award-winning ‘Hacking Your Health’ cyber series Next Steps in Fight Against Ransomware Attacks Hour-long Special Report: CYBERWATCH

The United States must immediately get ready for domestic, cyber-enabled attacks on critical domestic infrastructure and guard against foreign-initiated information operations targeted at the American people, according to speakers and panelists at an Association of the U.S. Army symposium on Wednesday in Arlington, Virginia.

“When we’re talking about threats to critical infrastructure, it will be in the homeland and we must prepare for that,” Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, Commanding General of U.S. Army Cyber Command, told the attendees at a 2023 "Hot Topics" series.

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Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, commanding general of U.S. Army Cyber Command, addresses attendees at the Association of the U.S. Army symposium in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2023.
AUSA/Luc Dunn

Mark Bristow, director of the Cyber Infrastructure Protection Innovation Center (CIPIC) at the non-profit Mitre Corporation, a research group in McLean, Virginia, said modern adversaries increasingly no longer distinguish between military and civilian populations when launching cyberattacks, seeking the largest disruption possible.

“It’s part of their plan to influence civilian populations and to change our political calculus,” Bristow said. Such indiscriminate attacks, he said, are “meant to degrade Americans’ trust and degrade their willingness to fight.”

Ransomware attacks on hospitals and Colonial Pipeline were cited as recent examples of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure that cause serious impacts, affecting patient care, transportation, and commerce.

In a keynote address, Patrick Murphy, former Under Secretary of the Army, cautioned that with 85% of infrastructure in the United States privately held, the government and the military cannot act alone to defend this infrastructure and urged an expansion of public-private partnerships to harden those assets.

Patrick Murphy, former under secretary of the Army, gives remarks during his keynote address at the Association of the U.S. Army symposium in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2023.
AUSA/Luc Dunn
Patrick Murphy, former under secretary of the Army, gives remarks during his keynote address at the Association of the U.S. Army symposium in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2023.

War in Ukraine foreshadows civilian threat

Citing Russian tactics in its unprovoked war in Ukraine as another example of the ominous cyber threat to civilians, Samantha Lewis, manager of Strategic Geopolitics-Global Issues at Recorded Future — a cyber security firm in Somerville, Massachusetts — noted that Russia has shifted its priority to targeting things like hospitals, power grids, and access to water with both traditional munitions and cyber sabotage.

“You might wake up in the morning and decide it’s not worth going to fight when you don’t know where you’re going to get water,” Lewis said.

Such tactics that expand a traditional battlefield to all parts of society can potentially undermine a population’s decision to defend itself, several speakers noted.

Col. Sean Stinchon, director of foreign intelligence at the Department of the Army, based at the Pentagon, pointed to American intelligence assessments overestimating Afghan security forces’ will to fight and underestimating the staying power of Ukrainian forces as two examples of faulty assumptions on the battlefield.

“We got the invasion part right, but we didn’t get the will to fight,” Stinchon said. “The intelligence community is fundamentally reassessing how we evaluate ‘will to fight,’” he said.

Information warfare

Another lesson from the war in Ukraine is the now-ubiquitous nature of information warfare as a key tactic on the battlefield.

Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, commanding general of U.S. Army Cyber Command, speaks to the Association of the U.S. Army symposium in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2023
AUSA/Luc Dunn
Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, commanding general of U.S. Army Cyber Command, speaks to the Association of the U.S. Army symposium in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2023

“When it comes to the information domain domestically,” asked Lt. Gen. Barrett at Army Cyber Command, “how do we make soldiers and families resilient to that, so our adversaries cannot compromise their will to fight?”

Carla O is a ‘Hiring Our Heroes’ military fellow with the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit in Washington D.C. She served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2018-2023. Mark Albert and Tamika Cody contributed to this report.

If you know of cyber security concerns you want us to investigate, please send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.

WATCH THE HEARST TELEVISION NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT’S ONGOING CYBER SECURITY COVERAGE: