The cyberthreat is a top national security priority for the United States. Terrorists, nation-state sponsored actors, and criminal groups have expanded their operations into the digital realm to probe domestic computer networks. After identifying vulnerabilities, they establish backdoors into proprietary systems and siphon out information. They look for anything they can exploit—research and development data; contracts on pending mergers; and personally identifiable information.

In November 2013, FBI Director James Comey told the U.S. Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the resources devoted to fighting the cyberthreat will in the future equal or even eclipse resources devoted to non-cyber terrorist threats.¹ “We have connected all of our lives—personal, professional, and national—to the Internet. That’s where the bad guys will go because that’s where our lives are, our money, our secrets,” Comey stated during the hearing.