Go On The Offense
The U.S. government is going to have to get much more engaged with the scourge of ransomware not just from a notification standpoint, but also as it relates to taking offensive action, according to SonicWall CEO Bill Conner. America needs to disrupt the digital supply chain of hackers to help protect the interest of businesses and avoid constantly being put in a defensive position, he said.
Russia and China have cyberoperators that work at arm’s length from the government to ensure both regimes always have plausible deniability, Conner said. Conversely, 95 percent of the U.S.’ cyberdefense is in the hands of the private sector with little help from the government, according to Conner.
The U.S. needs to invert its approach and bring its offensive capability to bear against the offensive capability of other cyberadversaries to blunt their firepower and give America’s cyberdefenders a chance to catch up, Conner said. America’s offensive cybersecurity capability is huge, and the country should utilize those assets more frequently, according to Conner.