OPINION:
In her latest book, “Get Off the X: CIA Secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving Your Life’s Mission,” former CIA officer Michele Rigby Assad lifts the veil on overcoming the unexpected setbacks we all encounter. For CIA officers such as Ms. Rigby Assad, with whom I had the honor of serving in a Middle East war zone over a decade ago, the “X” is that menacing place where terrorists planned an attack.
In the world of ubiquitous cyber threats from criminals and adversaries such as Russia and China, U.S. private companies that own and operate critical infrastructure are also squarely “on the X.” They will be relying on recently confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to protect them with the full force of the U.S. intelligence community.
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray said China “considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage.” Beijing is ruthlessly focused on stealing our technology and academic research. The theft of American intellectual property is estimated to amount to hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
Since at least 2021, China’s sophisticated Volt Typhoon team of hackers has burrowed into our key infrastructure systems, including telecommunications, the electrical grid, natural gas pipelines and water treatment plants, awaiting the day when the harmful malware can be activated.
Earlier this month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned that “if Beijing believed that a major conflict with the United States were imminent, it would consider aggressive cyber operations against U.S. critical infrastructure and military assets.” Highly sophisticated foreign intelligence services such as the Chinese Ministry of State Security have our vital systems in their crosshairs, and it’s not even close to a fair fight.
Suppose there’s a silver lining to all those dark cyberspace clouds. In that case, the Trump administration includes some high-profile business figures who fully appreciate the dangers we face, including Elon Musk, Deputy Secretary of Defense-designate Stephen Feinberg, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. With vast experience keeping their companies off the X, they can support Ms. Gabbard in building a powerful cybersecurity partnership between the federal government and the private sector.
It starts with recognizing two types of companies: those that know they have been hacked and those that do not yet realize it. Recognizing they are sitting on the X, private-sector companies operating critical infrastructure must start now with an effective disaster recovery plan, including redundancy of vulnerable data.
The U.S. government, led by the DNI, should harden the defenses of our critical infrastructure along three lines of operation.
First, intelligence is about detecting indications and warnings to preempt threats, as was the case when a Russian cyberattack shut down the Colonial Pipeline for five days in May 2021. The U.S. intelligence community, especially the U.S. Cyber Command, is on the hook to find, fix and disrupt cyberhacking groups.
Cyberattacks never occur from a cold start. The best opportunity to spot and stop hackers is during the pre-attack surveillance phase. Our intelligence analysts should proactively plug into networks where attacks are planned and conduct disruption operations to keep our infrastructure as safe as possible.
Second, the FBI has a strong record of conducting forensics and sharing what it has learned with the private sector on preventing cyber intrusions. The bureau removed Volt Typhoon’s malware from the U.S. routers and permanently severed their connections.
The intelligence community should also provide timely briefings to the private sector to raise awareness of the threat landscape and help vet supply chain vendors to avoid hostile infiltrations such as the Russian SolarWinds attack, which used insecure software updates to penetrate networks.
Third, private-sector companies should reduce vulnerabilities by securing routers and servers, using firewalls, applying patches and deploying an effective incident response platform. However, companies also need to focus on what former FBI cybersecurity chief Don Freese likes to call the “skin behind the keyboard.” That means developing a comprehensive insider threat program for employees who require a higher degree of training to defend against cyber threats.
Stopping malicious insider threats requires employee life-cycle management, starting with hiring the right people and providing them with proper training throughout their careers, aggressively tracking cybersecurity red flags, and maintaining a robust employee assistance program. The FBI can assist private-sector companies seeking guidance about creating stronger defenses against the rising array of threats.
As Ms. Rigby Assad says, we need an operational plan to achieve our goals. Whatever landed us “on the X” does not have to keep us there.
• Daniel N. Hoffman is a retired clandestine services officer and former chief of station with the Central Intelligence Agency. His combined 30 years of government service included high-level overseas and domestic positions at the CIA. He has been a Fox News contributor since May 2018. He can be reached at danielhoffman@yahoo.com.
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