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Navy Confronts Broad Cyberthreats

More malicious players have the capability to inflict serious damage through cyberspace.

The U.S. Navy is facing new and better cyber adversaries as it expands its own cyber footprint. These threats face the fleet and the nation, and the Navy may be called upon to respond in both cases.

Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, USN, commander, Fleet Cyber Command and commander, Tenth Fleet, described her command’s challenges to a Thursday morning audience at West 2015, being held in San Diego, February 10-12. Adm. Tighe related that 2014 saw several criminal and destructive cyber attacks, and this trend is likely to grow in 2015.

The admiral pointed out that the Navy no longer can focus only on peer nation-state military competitors in cyberspace. Criminals, hackers and other cybermarauders must be taken into account. Even if the attack is not destructive, it could be detrimental to national interests.

“The Sony hack demonstrated that cyber attacks on noncritical infrastructure still can take aim at traditional American values,” she declared.

Adversaries rapidly are acquiring sophisticated tools, and they know how to use them, the admiral allowed. Success in protecting and defending the network requires security forces winning each day, while attackers need only succeed once to attain their goal.