Network reliability and resiliency is finally a 'front-burner issue'

The United States could be on the cusp of a “digital Pearl Harbor” which will expose the fragility of the country's communications systems, according to Brookings Institution non-resident senior fellow Blair Levin. Levin’s “digital Pearl Harbor” reference harkens back to comments from former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who first coined a variation of the phrase in 2012. At the time, Panetta warned the U.S. could suffer a disastrous digital attack if it didn’t strengthen its cybersecurity posture. A recently reported hack of telecoms networks by China could fit the bill. But Levin also argued that the same principle could apply to other forms of resilience in the face of natural disasters—for example, Hurricane Milton, which is currently bearing down on Florida, and Hurricane Helene, which left more than a million citizens across seven states without broadband connectivity.