One of the United States’ quiet advantages in cyberspace is how much it learns by being on the offensive. Through Department of War and Intelligence Community operations globally, cyber operators have a front-row seat to observe how adversaries actually think, plan and operate in real networks—not how we assume they operate. Those insights, when handled responsibly, generate enormous value for defending America’s critical infrastructure at home – our energy grid, our water systems, railways, roads, airports and more.
Offensive cyber operations show us the messiness of real adversary behavior. They reveal what attackers prioritize when time and resources are limited, which vulnerabilities they reliably exploit and where defenses tend to break down in practice. In these scenarios, operators learn quickly that attackers don’t chase every weakness; they chase the ones that get them to impact fastest. They also “live off the land” or on the very vulnerable points in the network that go unpatched due to perceived priority or lack of time (or resources) by the defenders. That kind of understanding is difficult to get from logs, scans or post-incident reports alone, but it’s exactly what infrastructure defenders need.
Moving from Compliance-Driven to Threat-Informed Defenses and Gaining an Advantage
When translated correctly, these insights help shift critical infrastructure defense from compliance-driven exercises to threat-informed ones. Instead of treating all risks as equal, owners and operators can focus on the attack paths adversaries actually care about. Knowing how a hostile actor would move from an IT network into industrial control systems, or how they’d exploit trusted third-party access, helps defenders prioritize controls that matter most during a real crisis.
There’s also a timing advantage. Offensive cyber insights often surface new tools, techniques and campaign patterns well before they’re used broadly against U.S. targets. That early awareness creates breathing room—time to patch, segment, monitor or change operational procedures before an attack hits at scale. For sectors like energy, transportation and communications, that lead time can make the difference between a manageable incident and a national-level disruption.
Value in Responsible, Practical Translation
Of course, this isn’t about importing military cyber operations into the domestic space. The value comes from translation, not transfer. Sensitive insights must be distilled, declassified where appropriate, and turned into practical guidance that civilian agencies and private companies can actually use. That’s where national organizations like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) play a critical role—acting as the bridge between national-level insight and day-to-day defensive reality, without crossing legal or ethical lines.
At the end of the day, adversaries don’t separate “military” and “civilian” targets when they plan cyber campaigns. They look for leverage, impact, and pressure points across the entire system. If the U.S. can responsibly convert what it learns on the offensive into smarter, earlier, and more focused defense of critical infrastructure, we move from reacting to incidents to staying ahead of them. That’s not just good cybersecurity—it’s active national resilience.
At GDIT we collaborate with clients across the federal government and with state and local governments to leverage cybersecurity data and insights to protect critical infrastructure and to build resilience. Our goal is to empower these teams with transformative technology and approaches that enable them to advance their missions, meet citizen needs and to evolve with them over time. Together with customers, we advance proactive cybersecurity postures, protect critical services, data and privacy and enable mission delivery in consistently innovative and impactful ways.
