WASHINGTON – As we continue to mark Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it’s important to understand that cybersecurity is not a passive consideration limited only to the cyber community, but something that requires proactivity and vigilance from all of us. Every Sailor and Civilian has a critical role as a defender of Navy systems and, by extension, the Naval mission.
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All levels of the command chain must possess an understanding of the risks associated with system operations and the changes to them over time. Similarly to how a pilot should understand the potential failure of faulty landing gear, it is critical that personnel understand the cyber vulnerabilities of systems they operate and what to do in the event of an incident. While the threat vector may be in the cyber world, the operational impact often occurs in the physical battlespace affecting the supported missions.
As the cyber landscape is constantly evolving, obtaining this understanding requires regular cyber hygiene (e.g., scanning, patching, etc.) and ongoing communication between operators and the cyber community. All individuals play a role in identifying and reporting issues as they occur. While service disruptions or issues can be due to benign IT faults or ongoing maintenance, they can also be a sign of a cyber breach. One of the primary focuses of Navy is developing tools and dashboards that will provide real-time visibility into the cyber posture of systems to Navy personnel. In addition to allowing you, as Cyber Warriors, to have at-a-glance insight into operational risks, it will provide commanders the tools to strategically navigate the cyber terrain and claim ownership of cyber decision making.
Realizing real-time continuous monitoring is one of the top Navy information warfare goals for FY25. As part of the broader Department of the Navy Cyber Ready initiative, Navy is working with the Marine Corps, to develop department-wide continuous monitoring requirements and to create a threat-based risk calculus which will be used to feed a centralized cyber data environment.
At the command level, we need you to help us understand the cyber priorities of you and your leadership through participation in ongoing working groups and providing feedback on draft solutions. This feedback is crucial to ensuring that the tools developed reflect your operational priorities.
The Navy must develop new technologies to support cyber vigilance and we must collectively embrace a proactive ownership of our systems’ cyber posture. The speed and reach at which information flows through an increasingly interconnected global environment has fundamentally altered the character of modern warfare. Together as Cyber Warriors, through our vigilance, we can and will prepare the maritime force for the fight.
