US beefs up Pacific cyber defences as concerns grow over risk to undersea cables

The US military expanded its cyber defence presence in Hawaii and established a regional network operations and security centre to detect disruptions across Pacific communications networks. The Defense Information Systems Agency’s centre is intended to help distinguish problems such as damaged undersea cables, electromagnetic spectrum interference and service outages originating on the US mainland. Separately, US Pacific Command reinforced its network defence through Cyber Defense Forces Pacific, which was piloted during Exercise Keen Edge, amid US concerns over Chinese cyber activity targeting critical infrastructure, including systems on Guam.