For years, battles between and within countries have taken place in many ways, usually through physical violence. The aftermath has resulted in death, starvation, and physical torture. Recently, however, conflicts between countries are being brought to a new platform: the cyber world.

Although cyberattacks may not seem to have tangible impacts, cyberwarfare is proving to be far more dangerous than any other type of attack because of its global reach. All cyber attacks are carried out through computers and can be done from anywhere and at any time.

On Nov. 2, HSBC confirmed a data breach in which perpetrators had access to account numbers, balances, transaction histories, and many other user details. The company has not yet revealed how many people have been affected, however, these types of attacks are quite common and often occur on even larger scales.

In order to protect our society, the U.S. needs to increase its cybersecurity workers because there is currently a skills gap to fill the positions. Although there is a rapid rise in cybersecurity positions around the world, the U.S. is falling behind, which is opening up opportunities for dangers to national security.

“I believe that cybersecurity is the only way to keep the United States in a secure position and maintain our country as a world power in today’s society,” Anuja Uppuluri ‘21 said.

The U.S. has already experienced many cyberattacks. In 2018, there was a Facebook breach which led to the profiles of 5 million users to be compromised. Another example of these attacks is WannaCry: a ransomware attack that happened in 2017 and infected people’s computers in over 150 countries until they paid a ransom. These attacks affected people individually, but there have also been attacks that the U.S. Government has faced. As Russia has already been a big part of the 2016 elections in the U.S., it is very likely that unless the U.S. creates a better cybersecurity base, they will face brutal consequences.

The only permanent solution to the imminent problems is for the U.S. to provide students with more STEM education to spark their interest in the cyber field. There are 200,000 cyber security positions that are left unfilled annually. If more students are exposed to STEM education, they are more likely to join the field and strengthen the U.S. cyber defense.

The enormity of national security lies in the hands of today’s children. Without proper guidance in STEM education, the U.S. will fail to equip its future generations for the precautions they need to take in order to be safe.