'Four horsemen of cyber' look back on 2008 DoD IT breach that led to US Cyber Command

A panel at RSA 2025 reunited key leaders behind the formation of US Cyber Command to recount how the 2008 Buckshot Yankee malware incident—sparked by a USB-borne infection on DoD networks—served as a wake-up call that led to Operation Buckshot Yankee and the eventual stand-up of CYBERCOM. Speakers described the strategic shift to treating cyberspace as a warfighting domain, early challenges educating senior leadership, and field innovations like RT-RG that accelerated intelligence fusion for counterinsurgency operations.