A decade ago, then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta uttered a phrase that would go on to live in infamy: “cyber Pearl Harbor.” Panetta was using his platform as the country’s leading national security official to warn of dire future digital assaults on the United States. Energy infrastructure, transportation systems, financial platforms, and more were vulnerable to exploitation, he warned. The media, pundits, and politicians have used the phrase, along with the similarly evocative “cyber 9/11” and “cyber Katrina,” galvanize support for national efforts to address cybersecurity challenges.
