Assistant Sec. of Army Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Talks Cybersecurity

Partial transcript below: 

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Kris Osborn When we talk about the importance of the network, obviously, there’s the question of hardening. Correct. I remember our discussions about building in cyber resiliency to weapons programs earlier in the developmental process. How is that maturing, especially when you look to the importance of things being more cyber reliant and securing this network?

Mr. Douglas Bush Yes, I think so. Ever since there have been military communications networks, there’s always been, you’re gaining capability by having a network of communications, you’re also creating a vulnerability that it exploited by an enemy could degrade your forces. So not a new problem. But I think the cyber world opens it up to kind of a scale we’re not we haven’t seen before. So it is critical.

The biggest thing is the right kind of testing early on based on the right kind of standards that are evolving to make sure they keep up with a threat. I think then over time, it becomes a constant update task to make sure that our communications equipment is being put through the wringer and is properly vetted and tested.

Now, it won’t be perfect there, you know, our networks in combat will not work as well as they do in a completely benign civilian environment. The critical thing is making sure that ours works well enough in combat to maintain the advantages it gives us over our enemy, because we of course, are going to be trying to take their network down. So it’s a constant back and forth. I think. 

Be sure to watch the video for full insights.

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