Cyber attacks a ‘whole-of-government, almost whole-of-society threat’, says Pentagon official

Close collaboration between the Defense Department and industry is the key to fighting growing cyber security challenges, according to a top Pentagon official.

Leslie A. Beavers, principal deputy chief information officer at the Department of Defence’s (DOD) headquarters, recently addressed the department’s cyber security challenges at the annual FedTalks event in Washington DC, saying: “At the end of the day, security requires everyone to be a part of the solution.”

Beavers went into some depth on the importance of adopting a zero-trust architecture, which the DOD is implementing alongside efforts to modernise the user experience of IT systems.

“Where our attack surface is everyone,” Beavers observed, “everyone has to be defensive when it comes to cyber”.

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Beavers also spoke about the four key goals in building a fit-for-purpose security architecture for the DOD – technology acceleration, cultural change, defending DOD systems, and enabling zero-trust methodologies. Recruitment is also a key challenge being addressed as a key part of building a skilled cyber security workforce.

But, she noted, it’s not something the DOD can do alone.

“The Department of Defense, as large as it is, is heavily reliant on civilian infrastructure and companies as well as other government organisations,” Beavers said, as reported by DOD News.

“It’s a journey that we have to go on together.”

David Hollingworth

David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.