Cybersecurity and National Security: Challenges Ahead
For much of human history, national security was associated with armies, borders, ships, aircraft, missiles, and intelligence agencies. Today, another battlefield exists alongside all of them: cyberspace. Modern nations depend upon digital systems for nearly everything. Governments operate through computer networks. Hospitals rely on digital records. Banks and financial markets depend upon electronic infrastructure. Electricity, transportation, communications, manufacturing, and water systems increasingly depend upon interconnected technology. That dependence creates enormous opportunities—but it also creates vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity has therefore become a central part of national security. The challenge ahead is not simply protecting computers. It is protecting the systems upon which modern societies depend. A New Kind of Battlefield A cyberattack does not require an invading army to cross a border. An attacker thousands of miles away can potentially target a...
