What does the future of the cyber threat landscape look like in the next year? Or decade? We don’t know for sure how consequential it is, but we know the implications are heave with adversarial threats like China and Russia.
To comment, ClearanceJobs welcomes ex-employee of the National Security Agency (NSA), William “Hutch” Hutchison, to the Security Clearance Careers Podcast (AKA ClearedCast). Hutch is the CEO and co-Founder of SimSpace. At U.S. Cyber Command he was appointed through presidential order to create a team focused on defending U.S. national infrastructure against state cyberthreats, training the 6,000 Cyber Command operatives. Today he continues to serve as the Test Director for cyber operational assessments at the Department of Defense.
Hutch spent a few decades with the U.S. Air Force as a fighter pilot and if you know anything about his demographic, they partake in Red Flag Exercises a few times a year. This combat training exercise involves the air forces of the U.S. and its allies, and helps personnel to better prepare for combat. Hutch uses his experience in Red Flag, translating it to Cyber Flag: a training on networks that allows you the freedom to fail to become ever cyber vigilant.
Hutch didn’t always work in cyber, so he also offers a few tips on how to pivot careers from one field to cyber, and the importance of cyber hygiene as a security clearance holder.
While maintaining cyber hygiene as an individual is critical, understanding the higher level cyber threats against the U.S. is just as crucial. Recently, the Philadelphia Inquirer was scrambling to restore its systems and resume normal operations after it became one of the many media organizations to be targeted in a cyber-attack. The attack aimed at Philadelphia’s paper of record was reported to the FBI. As Hutch and I reflect and discuss this issue, he tells us what we might see in the future of cyber threats with our adversaries like China/Russia. And the future looks a bit grim.
But fear not: at SimSpace, he provides mil-spec cybersecurity protection against advanced cyber threats for NATO governments and organizations, defending them from state actors.
