Cybersecurity In-Depth: Getting answers to questions about IT security threats and best practices from trusted cybersecurity professionals and industry experts.
Former National Cyber Director Chris Inglis warns that cyber attacks threaten hospitals, utilities and essential services.
June 9, 2026
Chris Inglis, First U.S. National Cyber Director, Semperis Strategic Advisor: For much of my career, battlefields were tangible places, deserts, cities, mountains, and oceans you could see and touch. You could point to the terrain, define the front line, and distinguish between the fight abroad and life at home. Today, one of the most consequential battlefields of all is almost entirely invisible. It is cyberspace: ambient, persistent, and woven into nearly every part of modern life.
That invisibility has led many people to misunderstand the nature of the contest now underway. Cyber conflict is still too often treated as a narrow technical issue, the province of IT departments and security teams. That is no longer sufficient. Cyber is not a side issue in modern conflict. It is a central arena in which nations compete, criminals disrupt, and societies are tested. And unlike traditional battlefields, this one is not somewhere "over there." The front line is wherever networks exist—and today, that means almost everywhere.
