WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pentagon is updating its three-year-old cybersecurity strategy and implementation plan, officials announced at the Second Front Offset Symposium in Washington, D.C. Cyber threats are an increasingly persistent national security concern supercharged by AI.

Katie Sutton, the Pentagon’s cyber policy chief, said the updated cybersecurity strategy will “set a very definitive vision of where we need to go.” She said it will include “a very detailed action plan” for challenges like building a skilled workforce and ensuring cyber operators have current tools. Sutton emphasized that the U.S. military and cyber industrial base must partner more closely because cyber firms “build our battlefield.”

Industry leaders at the symposium pointed to structural and market challenges affecting the defense cyber sector. Joe Lin, co-founder and CEO of Twenty, said private capital is not pouring into cybersecurity at the same rate as other defense tech areas because it is unclear whether “true winners” will emerge. Lin added that the barrier to entry in the cybersecurity ecosystem has gone down, which he described as “the good news.”

Brian Carbaugh, co-founder and CEO of Andesite, said there is a “tremendous amount of noise in the cybersecurity market and many marketing dollars are being spent.” He said buyers experience fatigue due to having to sift through many vendors and pitches that often do not materialize. Carbaugh also noted that features and functionality once considered innovative in cyber tools are increasingly becoming “table stakes.” Carbaugh described the work of CISOs and their teams as “nothing short of heroic on a daily basis.”