Mounting economic uncertainty brought upon by President Donald Trump's tariffs on all goods imported to the U.S. are expected by Tenable co-CEO Steve Wintz to fuel more illicit cyber activity from its adversaries, Nextgov/FCW reports.
"There's a clear correlation between economic sanctions, tariffs, and threats. Threats increase whenever you have some of that. I think tariffs certainly will result in more cyber threats, [and] we're starting to see more evidence of that," said Wintz in an interview. Aside from triggering escalated cyberattacks, such tariffs could also prompt increased cybersecurity spending for U.S. critical infrastructure entities, which have long been attractive targets for hackers. Trump has already been urged by the Information Technology Industry Council to reevaluate the tariffs, which could jeopardize the U.S.'s relationship with allied nations. "These tariffs also threaten America's ability to lead in key technology areas like AI and manufacturing," said ITI Executive Vice President of Policy Sean Murphy.
