Kristen Smith
Cyber leaders participated in the recent Global Cyber Innovation Forum, where they discussed emerging threats, technological innovation and strategic partnerships needed to secure digital infrastructure.
In an opinion piece published Wednesday, Alex Whitworth, director of sales at Carahsoft, said the event the company hosted together with Forgepoint Capital, Snowflake, Forescout and Google Cloud centered on five key themes, including national security threats with supply chain vulnerabilities, the rise and race to ai dominance, the edge of quantum transformation and streamlining cybersecurity compliance.
National Security Threats with Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
During the event held at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C., government officials and industry leaders warned against software and digital platforms from foreign adversaries, citing the capability of such offerings to collect massive amounts of data to provide adversaries a strategic edge in information warfare.
With attempts to implant foreign influence in the U.S. technology ecosystem, U.S. leaders highlighted the need to regulate technology supply chains and accelerate federal certifications under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program to “ensure innovation does not come at the cost of national security,” Whitworth said.
The Rise and Race to AI Dominance
Artificial intelligence is seen as a powerful tool to enhance capabilities for various purposes. According to Whitworth, discussions around AI raised concerns over the United States underutilizing the technology, which foreign adversaries are advancing by bypassing data privacy to obtain datasets needed to accelerate AI model training.
The executive urged the U.S. government to counter such actions by enhancing AI model training efforts, deploying AI when combating cyberattacks and automating routine cybersecurity efforts.
The Edge of Quantum Transformation
Quantum computing poses a threat to existing encryption capabilities, making the race to post-quantum cryptography and quantum computers an urgent matter for governments worldwide. The technology is approaching mainstream adoption, and in five to 10 years, a massive amount of encrypted data could be vulnerable to decryption, the Carahsoft director said.
Streamlining Cybersecurity Compliance
Industry leaders recommended harmonizing conflicting and redundant cybersecurity standards and compliance frameworks, noting how the processes drain resources without enhancing security.
During the event, forum participants agreed that harmonized cybersecurity regulations are essential to enabling secure innovation without compromising oversight, Whitworth said.
