Pentagon Releases Strategy to Boost Cybersecurity for Defense Contractors

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has released a cybersecurity strategy aimed at shielding its suppliers from malicious cyber operations conducted by foreign adversaries, including Russia and China.

“Our adversaries understand the strategic value in targeting the DIB,” David McKeown, the Pentagon’s deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity told reporters on March 28.

DIB, which is short for the defense industrial base, refers to individuals, organizations, and businesses that the Pentagon relies on to provide equipment, materials, technology, and weapons systems needed for national defense.

Mr. McKeown said Americans must be aware of the “power of the hacker,” pointing to the examples of “the Chinese copy of the F-35, the Russian copy of the Space Shuttle.” China’s J-20 fighter is widely believed to be a knockoff of the F-35.

“All the data, the adversary’s looking for it, and it really shortcuts their engineering and production time when they can just steal it from us and not have to sit down and do real engineering on their own,” Mr. McKeown added. “So hopefully, everybody understands that this is a real threat.”

Read Full Article Here