Thomas Wingfield, deputy assistant secretary for cyber policy at the Department of Defense (DoD), has flagged the increasing risk of successful cyberattacks against the U.S. and its allies, and warned that the Pentagon's cyber force is "not enough."
He said during the Aviation Cyber Initiative Summit that cyber resilience can be achieved through collaboration among leaders, "who understand the promise and pitfalls of technology," and allies, interagency partners and industry.
Wingfield believes that all personnel should regularly be trained and tested because the entire organization is responsible for ensuring cyber resilience.
"Organizations need to move from a paradigm of cybersecurity, to one of cyber resilience," remarked Wingfield. He clarified that cybersecurity and cyber resilience are not synonymous, but are complementary.
According to the deputy assistant secretary of defense, cyber resource-enabled systems need to have cyber resilience to continue operation even after being targeted.
"Cyber resilience is, therefore, about more than protection. It is about continuity of operations and mission assurance," he said.
Wingfield concluded by noting that "the most important part of [cybersecurity and cyber resilience] is having a strong cyber immune system in every network on every system."