The deadline worrying America’s cyber defenders

Cyberspace is the new battlespace, and America’s cyber defenders are staring down a scary and quickly approaching deadline. This is not a time for uncertainty or political posturing.

Our greatest adversary, China, is prepositioning itself inside the digital networks of our nation’s most critical infrastructure, presumably to impede our ability to respond to their own aggression. They’ve broken into nine of the largest U.S. phone networks — and according to the FBI, targeted 80 nations — and are now able to syphon off a treasure trove of data and intelligence on almost every American. They’re targeting internet-connected devices to break into even more of our nation’s critical systems and companies. These attacks, collectively known as The Typhoons, exemplify just one of the threats taking aim every day at companies large and small, state and local governments, and the federal government itself.

Protecting our nation’s critical systems in cyberspace is a national and economic security imperative, and an urgent one.