Army CIO Sorenson acknowledges concern over cyberwarfare,

Not that Army information technology officers needed a wake-up call about the need to secure their networks, but the recent cyberattacks against Georgian networks that originated in Russia certainly served as reinforcement of that need.

“The recent incident in Georgia was proceeded by a cyber attack, followed by a kinetic attack; that’s a harbinger (of future warfare),” said Army CIO/G6 Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, speaking Monday in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. at LandWarNet 2008. Clearly, though, the record number of exhibitors at this years show illustrate that industry is primed to help the Army deal with that issue.

“With the fact that so many things are happening in the world of IT, it is encouraging that we continue to have so many small companies come forward with things that soldiers can use in the battlefield,” said Sorenson at LandWarNet’s opening session, which about 5,000 people attended.

Although, that’s not to say that the Army has all the tools it needs. Not by a long short, said Sorenson. “We continue to be confounded today with hardware and software integration in the field.”

Speaking to the contractors in the audience, in particular, Sorenson added: “All you small companies, you grab a soldier walking by and tell him what you’ve got. When you put the soldier and the engineer together, magic happens.”