Jen Easterly, former director of U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Michael Mercier | UAH
The Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, hosted Jen Easterly as the DLS fall speaker. A globally acclaimed cybersecurity and national security leader, Easterly served as director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), America’s premiere cyber defense agency, from July 2021 to January 2025. Easterly brings deep expertise on cyber threats, emerging technologies and organizational resilience and opened the evening by highlighting the importance of “imagination” when it comes to safeguarding the nation’s most vital secrets and critical infrastructure.
“I have always believed in the power of imagination, not just to solve puzzles, not just to prevent attacks, but really to make a positive impact on the lives of others, and that obsession remains with me today,” the speaker explained. “I fundamentally believe it is the responsibility of all of us as leaders in government, in business, in academia and civic life to be able to leverage the power of imagination without suffering a failure of imagination.”
As the Director of CISA, she led the nation’s efforts to protect critical infrastructure from cyber and physical threats, transforming the agency into a $3 billion operation with over 10,000 employees and contract personnel. A combat veteran, cybersecurity pioneer and former Wall Street technology executive, Easterly also played a pivotal role in the creation of U.S. Cyber Command and commanded the Army’s first cyber battalion.
“When I started my career as a young lieutenant in the U.S. Army, no one had heard of this thing called cybersecurity. And now it’s existential to every organization, every government, every community,” Easterly said. “It’s existential to the critical infrastructure that we all rely upon every hour of every day for water and power and health care and finance and transportation.”
Easterly called herself a “relentless optimist who feels now is the most exciting time to be in this field, because of the innovation being generated at the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.”
That kind of collaborative technology has never been needed more, the speaker pointed out in detailing the wide-ranging cyber challenges facing the nation today.
“There are three buckets of threats to think about when you define the cyber threat landscape,” the speaker said. “The first is the industrialization of the ransomware ecosystem. The first ransomware attack occurred in 1989, and it involved a demand for a check for $189 sent to a P.O. box in Panama. Now that has evolved into a multi-trillion-dollar business. Global cyber crime damages are expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion by the end of this year.
“Second is the weaponization of data. The volume, variety, velocity of data is expanding exponentially. That’s good in some ways, but as we’ve added more platforms and devices to the internet, we’ve increased the points of failure, and we’ve increased the attack surface, so now there is a cyber attack roughly every 30 seconds. The average data breach in the U.S. costs over $10 million.
“The last big trend is the transformation of China’s cyber army as a machine of disruption and destruction,” Easterly continued. “We have seen very serious threats where China has now embedded itself in some of our most sensitive critical infrastructure, power systems, water systems, transportation systems and communications systems, to be able to hold our nation at risk in the event of a crisis in Taiwan.”
One of the greatest difficulties in addressing these challenges is that they are so widespread, forcing the private sector to bear much of the brunt of these threats with only limited resources.
“I think more businesses are awake to the real threat, and they are investing in it,” Easterly noted. “But no private sector entity should have to face down the Chinese People’s Liberation Army or the Russian intelligence service. So, it really is incumbent upon the federal government to be able to provide information that helps the private sector be able to defend itself and reduce the risk to networks. Some of the problem is out in places where they don’t have a lot of resources, like rural hospitals, water facilities, schools. That’s where CISA would stand in. We have people all over the country that could bring expertise and advisory services to help, particularly in small and medium enterprises, to defend themselves.”
Easterly repeatedly reminded her audience that UAH and the Huntsville community are standing squarely in the epicenter of the efforts to keep ahead of the cybersecurity curve.
“Huntsville has always been a place where imagination meets reality,” the speaker said. “What’s happening right here at UAH perfectly captures that spirit through the Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education. They’re going to play a foundational role in this revolution, the first generation to use AI as a co-creator, not as a calculator, not as a search engine, but actually as a reasoning partner, a reality that will shape not just the next generation of technology, but will open up a world of tremendous possibility, tremendous opportunity.
“This university is doing exactly what our nation needs, turning imagination into capability, not just teaching the next generation of defenders, but actually building the science of resilience through cutting-edge research,” Easterly said. “You’re helping to shape how we secure the infrastructure that frankly powers our way of life. In doing so, this university is showing the country what it looks like when a university is a force multiplier for the nation’s security and innovation ecosystem.
“Some of the breakthroughs happening here aren’t theoretical,” the speaker concluded. “They’re really going to lead to the building blocks of a safer, smarter, more resilient future, and they remind us that the same imagination that once fueled rocket engines can also fuel secure, trustworthy artificial intelligence systems and give us peace of mind.”
The UAH Distinguished Lecture Series was conceived to enhance community collaboration among The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Redstone Arsenal agencies and corporations in Cummings Research Park. One desired outcome is to raise awareness and acquire a better understanding of current events and future trends, and how these activities could be positively influenced through the knowledge and actions among the region’s government, corporate and academic partners.