TechNet Cyber turns a watchful eye on AI, quantum computing, and small business partners

The evolving cyber battlefield was the focus of this year’s TechNet Cyber event. With a theme of “Outpacing the Threat: Align, Adapt, Accelerate,” the event enabled military officials and industry leaders to share insights on the role GovCon can play in meeting missions generally and cybersecurity specifically. Hosted by AFCEA, the event brings together experts in digital policy, strategy, operations, and communications.

Running June 25-27 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland, the event attracted 350 exhibitors and thousands of attendees from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM), and industry to discuss how technology can best help and defend in today’s landscape.

AI

AI is fast becoming a part of every aspect of life, and one of its most important uses is in cyber defense.

For instance, the technology can make DOD networks more efficient and effective at identifying potential intrusions from China-sponsored attacks, said Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, DISA director, and commander of the Joint Force Headquarters-DOD Information Network. He pointed to Chinese efforts to disrupt core DOD functions.

“They’re analyzing our strategies and our plans,” Skinner said. “They are focused on disrupting our critical infrastructure, targeting our critical infrastructure, making that a focus area, and they are studying in detail our national and our DOD strategy.”

As a result, defense agencies must look at ways to use “AI to sift through all the data that we have from all the sensors that we have across the department and really understand what the risk is for an adversary in your network, or has an adversary laterally moved across your network?” he added.

Brian Hermann, cybersecurity and analytics director at DISA, said that the department has a goal of automating 75% of its administrative cyber capabilities to be able to keep up with defense demand.

“Our data analytics team has been creating a data lake architecture that allows us to have the data where it’s essentially created,” Hermann said. “If you think about this, it connects back to the DOD cloud strategy [Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability]. We have four primary cloud service providers under [JWCC] and so we’re creating the lake of data in the environment where the cybersecurity tools are providing, so it’s not going to generate a lot of exfiltration costs or transition costs.”

One case study of how DOD is using AI in cyber defense already is Cyber Command’s work with the National Security Agency’s AI Security Center. The command also has an AI Task Force to help operations move from “opportunistic applications to systemic adoption,” said Gen. Timothy Haugh, commander of CYBERCOM, director of NSA, and director of the Central Security Service.

“At Cyber Command and NSA, we have two lenses when we talk AI: cybersecurity for AI and AI for cybersecurity,” Haugh said. “We must learn how to protect our nation’s competitive advantage in AI from foreign cyberattacks, and quickly operationalize the means to do so, while also exploring how we can leverage AI to enhance the full spectrum of our cybersecurity capabilities.”

Importance of industry partners

Haugh and Skinner also issued warnings to the defense industrial base (DIB) about the threat from China.

“We realize that cybersecurity is not the top priority for many of the companies within the defense industrial base,” Haugh said. “These companies and entities focus on manufacturing, innovating, and developing the tools that win this country’s wars. This is where our partnership adds value. The DIB must enhance its cybersecurity, and the Cyber Command and NSA team are willing and eager partners to assist you.”

Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, commanding general of Army Cyber Command, said that some big companies, such as Microsoft, have already been attacked by Volt Typhoon, a Chinese cyber espionage group. That means small DIB businesses are especially vulnerable, she noted.

“There are a number of initiatives underway, pilots…looking at how can you affordably give a small business partner a virtual environment to do Army business?” Barrett said. “It’s too complex for them to do it themselves.”

Quantum

Another technology that defense officials are keeping a close eye on is quantum computing. Still in its infancy, quantum has the potential for powerful capabilities that can be used for good or evil.

“Quantum computing is going to be a game changer,” said Cedric Terry, chief of the Encryption Production and Solutions Group at NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate. “It is really, really going to just change the way that we look at encryption and the cryptographic ecosystem. And although it is a game changer for us, it also presents a threat. In the wrong hands of an adversary with intentions to do us harm, cryptographically relevant quantum computers have the potential to break existing public keys, we know it.”

He urged industry to start planning now for the possibilities that quantum offers so that defense can remain on the cutting edge.

Considering the speed at which both threats and responses change, there is plenty to get excited about before TechNet Cyber 2025.