NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Retired U.S. Navy Admiral
James Stavridis
said Tuesday that there should be a new branch of the military that focuses exclusively on defending the public and private sectors against cyberthreats.
Cyberattacks carried out by nation states such as Russia and North Korea increasingly are sophisticated and brash, said Mr. Stavridis, the current dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. A dedicated cybersecurity unit would help critical infrastructure operators, for example, prevent and respond to attacks that could cause widespread destruction, he said, speaking at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Conference here.
“What I worry about the most is our [energy] grid, which is quite vulnerable,” said Mr. Stavridis, who also previously served as the supreme allied commander of NATO and head of European Command.
Nation states, he said, have demonstrated that cyberattacks can destroy infrastructure and threaten lives.
For example, a team of Russian hackers in 2015…
