Defense

DISA director: 'We expect a cyberattack as a prelude to war'

... And yet that future war — at least in the traditional sense — hasn’t come, despite an onslaught of cyberattacks that arguably could serve as such preludes. Lynn said that is, at least in part, because the threshold isn’t yet well-defined.

“What’s interesting is no one knows where the red line is yet. When do you cross the line into kinetic war?” he said. “There’s an economic cyber Cold War playing out right now. Imagine that a country is working the long war fight; they’re not interested in one-day tactical advances, but the 20-year cyber takedown of a Sony, Target ... name your company. It costs pennies to conduct those attacks, but millions of dollars to fix. That economic equation is troubling enough but if the goal over time is to erode global consumer confidence in the U.S. … think about that and think about where we’re headed.”