Russian cyber operations against the United States aim to both collect information and develop offensive capabilities against future targets. Washington must strengthen its defenses in response.

This paper addresses a growing concern to one of the most fundamental components of our democracy: how cybersecurity risks can influence the integrity of our elections.

Michael Sulmeyer (@sultanofcyber), Director of the Cyber Security Project at the Belfer Center and former Director for Plans and Operations for Cyber Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, talks with Aroop Mukharji (@aroopmukharji) about protecting yourself online, running for office in the age of social media, and cyber security’s “sex appeal.”

Michael Sulmeyer (@sultanofcyber), Director of the Cyber Security Project at the Belfer Center and former Director for Plans and Operations for Cyber Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, talks with Aroop Mukharji (@aroopmukharji) about protecting yourself online, running for office in the age of social media, and cyber security’s “sex appeal.”

In March, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment against seven Iranians for hacking the U.S. financial sector and a dam in New York. In doing so, it also clarified what information security officials have argued for years: that the vast majority of hacks exploit known vulnerabilities.

The computers, networks, and systems of cyberspace have become an integral part of daily life. They control critical infrastructure, ease and speed communication, enable financial transactions, and much more. However, the same aspects of connectivity that allow us to innovate also put us at risk.

Michael Sulmeyer, former director for Plans and Operations for Cyber Policy at the Department of Defense, has joined the Belfer Center as director of its new Cyber Security Project. The cyber project, created by a $15 mil­lion gift from Center namesake Robert Belfer and his family, aims to build a conceptual arsenal to address the ways conflict may be waged and avoided in cyberspace.

Michael Sulmeyer, director of the Belfer Center's Cyber Security Project, discusses the U.S. government's efforts to defend against cyber threats in the context of the legal battle between the FBI and Apple over its encryption methods.

While there are undoubtedly aspects of the cybersecurity problem that demand complex technological solutions, we submit that the two most beneficial recommendations they can make are more straightforward. The first is to do everything possible to eliminate the vulnerabilities on which attackers depend. The second is to treat cybersecurity principally as a management problem rather than as a technology problem.