WASHINGTON – Cyberattacks are the most serious threat facing the United States, even more so than terrorism, according to American defense experts.
Almost half of the US national security leaders, or 45.1 percent, who responded to a newly released poll by Defense News — a specialist publication — identified cyberwarfare as the principal danger to the country.
Those questioned included leaders in national security policy, the military, congressional staffs and the defense industry.
Terrorism is viewed as the next greatest threat by leaders who identified themselves as Republicans, while climate change was cited by those identifying as Democrats, according to the poll.
More than 350 senior defense leaders responded to the poll in late November, answering two dozen questions across a range of defense issues.
Iran was named as the top threat in the Middle East (54 percent), followed by terrorism (43.3 percent). In Asia, China got a relative majority (47.6 percent), followed by North Korea (28.8 percent).

More from AFP
- France Punishes Clearview AI For Failing To Pay Fine
- Twitter Celebrity Hacker Pleads Guilty in US
- Pro-Russian Hackers Claim Downing of French Senate Website
- Microsoft Expands AI Access to Public
- Hackers Promise AI, Install Malware Instead
- Australian Finance Company Refuses Hackers’ Ransom Demand
- Tesla Sued Over Workers’ Alleged Access to Car Video Imagery
- Secret US Documents on Ukraine War Plan Spill Onto Internet: Report
Latest News
- Industrial Giant ABB Confirms Ransomware Attack, Data Theft
- Organizations Worldwide Targeted in Rapidly Evolving Buhti Ransomware Operation
- Google Cloud Users Can Now Automate TLS Certificate Lifecycle
- Zyxel Firewalls Hacked by Mirai Botnet
- Watch Now: Threat Detection and Incident Response Virtual Summit
- NCC Group Releases Open Source Tools for Developers, Pentesters
- Memcyco Raises $10 Million in Seed Funding to Prevent Website Impersonation
- New Russia-Linked CosmicEnergy ICS Malware Could Disrupt Electric Grids
