Brad D. Williams

Reporter, Cyber and Networks, Breaking Defense

Brad D. Williams covers cyber, networks, and emerging tech. He has worked as a journalist and tech writer for 20 years, much of that time focusing on cybersecurity. He began his career on the night desk at a daily newspaper and then spent a decade as a senior tech writer in security operations centers, on cyber red teams, and embedded with engineers building tech for the public and private sectors. In 2015, Brad started a business specializing in cybersecurity content strategy and development. He joined Fifth Domain: Cyber at the publication’s launch in 2017 and developed an enterprise beat covering cybersecurity strategy, policy, operations, and emerging tech. Brad holds a master's degree in English and technical cybersecurity certification. Outside of work, Brad is a member of the United States Chess Federation and writes literature. bwilliams@breakingmedia.com

Stories by Brad D. Williams

JAIC’s AI Development Platform ‘Up And Running’

JAIC’s AI Development Platform ‘Up And Running’
JAIC’s AI Development Platform ‘Up And Running’

JAIC’s plan to rapidly grow capabilities, which it will do via a series of monthly updates, reflects the current AI competition with adversaries, including China which has said it plans to dominate AI by 2030. “To a Marine, this is dangerous close,” Lt. Gen. Michael Groen says.

DoD’s Own Bureaucracy Top Barrier To Winning Spectrum Back

DoD’s Own Bureaucracy Top Barrier To Winning Spectrum Back
DoD’s Own Bureaucracy Top Barrier To Winning Spectrum Back

America’s inability to progress beyond “Cold War capabilities” in this “most important environment to modern warfare” follows three EMS strategies over eight years. “They weren’t bad strategies,” experts agreed, but DoD simply failed to fully implement them. Now GAO is warning the latest strategy, just months old, may face the same fate.

A ‘Wake-Up Call’ For Defense IT, Comms Supply Chains: ODNI

A ‘Wake-Up Call’ For Defense IT, Comms Supply Chains: ODNI
A ‘Wake-Up Call’ For Defense IT, Comms Supply Chains: ODNI

Corell spoke on information and communications tech (ICT) supply chain risks on the same day DARPA and Intel announced a three-year partnership to develop and domestically manufacture new semiconductors for DoD applications.

Army, Air Force ‘Squarely Focused’ on Project Convergence 21 Wargame: Generals

Army, Air Force ‘Squarely Focused’ on Project Convergence 21 Wargame: Generals
Army, Air Force ‘Squarely Focused’ on Project Convergence 21 Wargame: Generals

The task is mammoth and entails integrating “millions of lines of code,” according to Air Force Brig. Gen. Jeffery Valenzia. But “with innovation comes opportunity,” Army Brig. Gen. Robert Collins observed. “Speed is what will really give us that overmatch against adversaries,” said Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher.

Why Was The SolarWinds Campaign So Difficult to Detect?

Why Was The SolarWinds Campaign So Difficult to Detect?
Why Was The SolarWinds Campaign So Difficult to Detect?

Only after months of investigation by nearly 100 highly skilled digital forensics experts did FireEye discover the malicious “implant” in the most unlikely place. We break it all down in plain language.

How Did Multiple Threat Groups Know About Exchange Patches Before Release?

How Did Multiple Threat Groups Know About Exchange Patches Before Release?
How Did Multiple Threat Groups Know About Exchange Patches Before Release?

Following CISA’s weekend updates on continuing Exchange server hacks, Microsoft is investigating the significant uptick in exploits just days before patches were released.

Retaliation Options: US Cyber Responses To SolarWinds, Exchange Hacks

Retaliation Options: US Cyber Responses To SolarWinds, Exchange Hacks
Retaliation Options: US Cyber Responses To SolarWinds, Exchange Hacks

Three experts gave us exclusive in-depth insights into the administration’s potential menu of retaliatory options, along with U.S. cyber strategic, policy, and operations considerations.

Exchange Hack: FBI, CISA Warn Of Follow-On Ransomware, ‘Destructive’ Attacks

Exchange Hack: FBI, CISA Warn Of Follow-On Ransomware, ‘Destructive’ Attacks
Exchange Hack: FBI, CISA Warn Of Follow-On Ransomware, ‘Destructive’ Attacks

Gurucul CEO Saryu Nayyar told Breaking Defense, “A threat like this really is one of those rare ‘Stop what you are doing and fix this now!’ events.”

Get US ‘AI Ready’ By 2025: JAIC’s Lt. Gen. Groen, NSCAI’s McFarland

Get US ‘AI Ready’ By 2025: JAIC’s Lt. Gen. Groen, NSCAI’s McFarland
Get US ‘AI Ready’ By 2025: JAIC’s Lt. Gen. Groen, NSCAI’s McFarland

Approximately half of NSCAI’s final recommendations focus on defense. “We’re already working on two-thirds of them,” Groen said, adding that partnerships with the U.S. domestic private sector and academia are important in pursuing JAIC’s defense-focused AI goals.

CISA ‘Strongly Urges’ Patching As Widespread Exchange Server Hacking Continues

CISA ‘Strongly Urges’ Patching As Widespread Exchange Server Hacking Continues
CISA ‘Strongly Urges’ Patching As Widespread Exchange Server Hacking Continues

Security professionals are increasingly observing multiple threat actors, from nation-states to cryptominers, exploiting the vulnerabilities. As for China-based HAFNIUM, “This is part of the much larger Chinese effort to constantly be ferreting out new vulnerabilities and then exploiting them — with no end in sight,” said Heritage’s Dean Cheng. “The Chinese will pay close attention to the Biden administration response.”

Microsoft Pushes Urgent Fixes Overnight As Threat Actors Compromise Exchange Servers Worldwide

Microsoft Pushes Urgent Fixes Overnight As Threat Actors Compromise Exchange Servers Worldwide
Microsoft Pushes Urgent Fixes Overnight As Threat Actors Compromise Exchange Servers Worldwide

The cyberespionage campaign is said to be affecting the U.S. defense industrial base, think tanks, and “hundreds of thousands” of organizations globally. Microsoft is implicating China.

CYBERCOM Plays ‘Key Role’ As SolarWinds Unfolds: Gen. Nakasone

CYBERCOM Plays ‘Key Role’ As SolarWinds Unfolds: Gen. Nakasone
CYBERCOM Plays ‘Key Role’ As SolarWinds Unfolds: Gen. Nakasone

As the government investigation continues, security firm FireEye published details of newly discovered backdoor, SUNSHUTTLE, which has “possible connection” to the SolarWinds hack.

DARPA’s Rapid Power Grid Restoration Tech Goes Live

DARPA’s Rapid Power Grid Restoration Tech Goes Live
DARPA’s Rapid Power Grid Restoration Tech Goes Live

Some of the tech built to quickly restore power after a cyberattack is now operational on parts of the U.S. grid, with more deployments to follow. This week’s news of RedEcho shows, yet again, it can’t happen soon enough.

NSA Urges Defense Sector to Adopt Zero-Trust Model After SolarWinds Hack

NSA Urges Defense Sector to Adopt Zero-Trust Model After SolarWinds Hack
NSA Urges Defense Sector to Adopt Zero-Trust Model After SolarWinds Hack

Microsoft President Brad Smith testified that a team of internal Microsoft security experts investigating the breach at the company estimated that the SolarWinds hack involved the work of “at least 1,000 engineers,” the sort of scale that would require a government’s commitment of people and money. Three top cyber leaders told lawmakers that old security models are no longer adequate for today’s IT environments.

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