As part of U.S. Southern Command-sponsored biennial multinational exercise PANAMAX, held this year in various U.S. locations, including Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Virginia, August 5-14, Diálogo had the opportunity to talk with Argentine Army Captain Mario Andrés Benítez, a cybersecurity specialist, to learn details about cyberdefense advances in the region.
Diálogo: What does it mean for the Argentine Army to participate in a multinational exercise like PANAMAX?
Argentine Army Captain Mario Andrés Benítez, cybersecurity specialist: For us, it represents the union with the partner nations that share the region. It’s a way of integrating the capabilities of the participating countries and interacting with each country. There is already a fraternal link, since we share traditions. We also share an environment and love for what we have and what we protect. So, this is a way of integrating our capabilities, sharing experiences, training, because we are always learning. By sharing this exercise, we can integrate our knowledge with other countries and improve our own. As an experience, it’s invaluable.
Diálogo: The protection of the Panama Canal faces new challenges in this exercise. Can you explain how the cybersecurity component carried out its functions in this edition of PANAMAX?
Capt. Benítez: As part of the evolution of all the conflicts in the technological environment, today cybersecurity and especially cyberdefense, militarily speaking, is very active in everyday life. Speaking specifically of the Panama Canal, one of the specialties and the objective of cyberdefense is to protect those critical national infrastructures. The Panama Canal is for its inhabitants and the region an extremely critical infrastructure, which requires full protection, not only in the traditional domains such as sea, land, and air, but also from the point of view of cybersecurity and cyberdefense, which transversely affects all media and all types of equipment. Then, as part of technological evolution and conflicts, today, cybersecurity and cyberdefense have a unique role and stand out in some environments that, although integrated as part of all traditional environments, gain a special importance due to the different problems that may arise from the technological point of view. In addition, cybersecurity represents one of the tools used to confront the most common threats within the PANAMAX exercise.
Diálogo: What were the challenges you faced during the exercise in terms of cyberdefense and how did your experience contribute to solving them?
Capt. Benítez: The main challenges that we faced daily are basically that sometimes it is difficult to identify the physical location of where these attacks originate. Therefore, one of the main challenges is to identify our own vulnerabilities to strengthen ourselves and mitigate or reduce attacks that can be, in the cyberdefense spectrum, very varied and ever-changing, as they are constantly evolving. In addition, the vectors by which an infrastructure can be affected are very broad, basically, the challenge here is not only to interact with the problems inherent to the technology to protect the infrastructure, to protect the networks, to protect communications, but also to train personnel who, faced with a very new technology in constant evolution, require technical knowledge.
So, one of the main challenges is to train personnel to be aware of these small changes, these small oversights that can cause big problems. For example, opening an email with a link that leads to what is commonly known as malware, can cause major consequences and catastrophes from a single click.
Diálogo: What is the frequency of cyberattacks in the region today and how does this translate into an exercise like PANAMAX?
Capt. Benítez: Cyber defense in our region is fundamental. While technology evolves and while countries and companies adopt technology systems to improve their capabilities, the problem often ends up residing in the person who operates them, who needs continuous training to keep up with the technology.
You can have very good technology, you can have the best advances, but behind it all, the weakest link in this whole chain of protection is still the person. It’s extremely important that technology and training go hand in hand, especially because technology is something that is constantly changing and evolving. A threat never ends; they are known as persistent and are continually adapting to try to affect any type of system.
Diálogo: What is the importance of conducting multinational exercises in the region and especially for cybersecurity?
Capt. Benítez: These trainings are extremely important. We can see each country as like a link in a great chain, which is the whole region and the whole continent. It’s of no use if one country is aware, adopts means, invests in infrastructure, and trains its personnel if another neighboring country is not up to the task or does not take it with the same seriousness. We must remember that these are critical infrastructures that not only affect the sovereign country but also affect regions, regions that transcend physical borders and that regional instability is among the consequences. These exercises are important for everyone to become aware, to be up to the task and to coordinate efforts to protect and defend this environment.
Diálogo: What tools did Argentina provide for this multinational exercise?
Capt. Benítez: The tools we brought are not physical, but the knowledge and expertise of the personnel who came to participate. We used the tools provided by the host country, through the work in the host country’s networks, and what we achieved, on the one hand, is to contribute to the planning, together with the technical knowledge and supervising the networks based on what the exercise presented.
Diálogo: What has been the highlight of your participation in PANAMAX on a professional and personal level?
It’s a great thrill to share such fraternal moments with other comrades, not only from other armies, but also from other forces, other characteristics, and other customs. On a personal level this requires a great maturity and on a professional level, it also implies a great maturity in the sense of seeing how other countries, other doctrines react to certain behaviors, what measures they adopt. The level of professionalism that could be seen is really important. I leave not only satisfied, but very happy and looking forward to participating at some other time, not only in PANAMAX, but in any other exercise at a regional level.
