Cyber capabilities and security are more critical than ever, as presenters and attendees at TechNet Cyber 2026 made clear. Running June 2-4 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland, the event attracted about 5,000 people and nearly 500 GovCon exhibitors, all tackling topics related to cyber evolution.
The annual event, hosted by AFCEA International, brought together experts in digital policy, strategy, operations, and communications to discuss the theme “Dominating the Digital Battlespace: Confidence, Speed, Precision.”
Going From Compliance to “Foundational Cybersecurity”
Department of War Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza)
The need to elevate security standards across the defense ecosystem is urgent. Specifically, Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies called for a stronger “foundational cybersecurity” stance that extends beyond the military services into the GovCon sector.
Because defense posture directly affects the defense industrial base’s networks — not just the services’ — vulnerabilities anywhere pose a severe risk. “A compromise at a small supplier can jeopardize a warfighter making a real-time decision,” Davies said. “That should make us all very uncomfortable.”
Complying with military and federal cybersecurity requirements is not enough, she added. “Compliance does not equal security. We must pursue a relentless focus on operational resilience, which is a byproduct, a dynamic, fit-for-purpose cybersecurity posture.”
A combo of industry insights, military operations, and intelligence is the secret sauce to fortifying cybersecurity, added Daniel McCormack, COO at the National Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Directorate. He encouraged industry partners to share any cyber incident they encounter, no matter how insignificant it seems.
“People will say, ‘I found this one thing with this one particular [cyberattack] victim,’ and now we can know three other things,” he said. “We can magnify that to where we can say, ‘Well, now let’s take how you found that and apply that, often across the entire ecosystem, with everyone that we deal with,’ and we go from finding three extra things to 300 very, very quickly.”
Facilitating Industry, Military Collaboration
To achieve the speed and precision the modern battlefield requires, Cyber Command is launching the Cyber Warfare Innovation Center (CWIC), a concept through which operators and government contractors can work together to innovate quickly.
Katie Sutton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, said that CWIC is a concept rather than a physical building. It will serve as a way for military members to work in lockstep with industry leaders to test, tweak, and rapidly operationalize new prototypes.
“CWIC will bring our warfighters and industry developers into the same room to build and iterate together based on the real-world operator feedback,” added Sutton. “By forging this direct link between those who build the tools and those who wield them, we ensure that our best innovations actually make it to the fight and onto the cyber battlefield.”
CWIC is part of Cyber Command’s makeover. Dubbed Cyber Command 2.0, the plan spotlights training. To that end, it is standing up two other new organizations in addition to CWIC: the Cyber Talent Management Organization, focused on recruiting and retaining a capable cyber workforce, and the Advanced Cyber Training and Education Center, which is responsible for developing mission-supporting lesson plans and training workers.
And Speaking of New Efforts
The newly established Defense Cyber Defense Command is working on a framework that will provide guidance on responding to cyberattacks on the United States’ critical infrastructure. Part of that is developing digital green zones by determining what needs to be secure and what data leaders need to ensure they know good from bad, said Col. Adolph Rodriguez, the command’s Director of Defense Critical Infrastructure.
One protection plan includes applying existing and defined roles among civil, federal, and defense teams, so that during a cyber incident, no one is scrambling to figure out the control lines.
“The most important thing, besides understanding the technology, the people, the processes, is who’s in control, who’s executing,” Rodriguez said.
Optimizing AI
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Acting Director Nick Andersen. (U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Darius M. Smith)
Sure, artificial intelligence is a boon to cybersecurity, but it can also increase vulnerability, said David Markowitz, the Army’s Deputy CIO and Chief Data and Analytics Officer.
It’s “lowering the barrier of entry and exposing more of our attack service,” he said.
In fact, Nick Andersen, Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, announced that CISA is prepping initiatives on how to use AI in the federal space and cybersecurity risk management. First will be the rollout of access for all federal partners to a specific AI platform. Then will come the release of binding operational directives on vulnerability remediation and future management, and last will be a revamp of how CISA associates its risk profile with system authorizations.
“All of these different elements fit together again into that ‘How do we integrate our government, and how do we integrate our industry approaches in order to deliver a more resilient enterprise?’” Andersen said.
Our takeaway from this year? Ultimately, the key to effective cyber defense lies in understanding not only the technology, but also the people and processes involved.
We look forward to learning more at TechNet Cyber 2027!