Remarks on Cyber at the RSA Conference

William Lynn III (Secretary of Defense) warns the RSA conference audience that cyber threats are growing in number and in sophistication. He provides examples of the ways the Department of Defense and other government networks have been infiltrated or exploited. Lynn also highlights "new" threats like DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks that occurred in Georgia and Estonia.

After describing past cyber attacks, Lynn claims with certainty that cyber attacks will cause physical damage based on the growing sophistication of threats. However, there is no empirical evidence to support this claim. He does add that destructive attacks may never be launched. But historically, once weapons are created they are seldom not used. Lynn continues to talk about what the Department of Defense plans are to reduce cyber damage, but the overall theme of the speech is that threats do exist and the nation must be prepared for them.

Lynn's speech can be found in the Concerned Citizen Directory. Since Lynn is one of the most prominent cyberwar figures in the media, learning about his views is imperative to understanding the scope of cyberwar.