Recent events seem to indicate that our military is making decisions within their theater of operations. Moving the decision-making to the place action will certainly speed up the decision-making process, but is it enough? Is anything enough to keep up with the speed with which things happen in the cyber domain?

One study examined devices on the internet of things and projected the number being used to hit 50 billion by 2020. That certainly would increase the cyberattack surface area (what needs protected).

Another interesting metric indicated that in 2015 there were 13 new strains of malware released ever second! Last year, one of the top metrics showed that in 2016 ransomware attacks shot up 6,000 percent. By the way: Most paid the ransom! This shows just how fast things are changing and the need to streamline the decision-making processes we have had in place for decades.

Some advanced cyberattack techniques have increased the time it takes for cyber forensic investigations to take place to months and in some cases years!

Consider for a moment all the sources of intelligence that feeds into decision-making as it pertains to our national security. All this intelligence (some sure to be contradictory) makes real-time responses to national security threats more difficult. National security and cybersecurity are in a constant state of flux. That adds to the substantial amount of uncertainty about what must be done.

Will our decision-making process around national security be streamlined? If so, there must be balance between speed and making sure we are right. I don't think very many people stop to consider the challenge our military and intelligence leaders currently face and the pressure they are under. With all that is going on in cyber, that challenge and pressure will continue to increase for the foreseeable future.

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