After more than 30 years of service in the U.S. Navy, Rear Admiral (ret.) David Simpson (pictured) knows danger when he sees it. As he surveys the cybersecurity horizon, he’s become more concerned about the potential for weaponizing social media in the virtual “public square” that the online world has become.

Recent allegations of message manipulation involving U.S. elections have amplified Simpson’s concerns. “If an adversary can change the perception of reality in that public square, or if they can cause our democracy to lose confidence in that public square, then an adversary can really achieve a kill … a desired effect in a way that is very negative for the country,” said Simpson, former chief of the Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission and chief executive officer of Pelorus LLC. “We need to understand the role algorithms have to play in amplifying a message and suppressing another message.”

Simpson spoke with Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Stu Miniman (@stu), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at the VeeamON event in Chicago. They discussed the need for greater cyber awareness among policymakers and his work to train the future business leaders of tomorrow. (* Disclosure below.)

Politicians came up short

In addition to social media manipulation, Simpson is also concerned about the role of policymakers in charting a course of action to deal with online cyberthreats. He observed April’s Congressional hearings when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg testified about his firm’s role in data privacy and election meddling.

“Politicians themselves were a bit embarrassed in revealing their lack of tech savvy in a world where we should expect policymakers to be at least aware enough of the parameters around the virtual public square,” Simpson said. “They can help develop the right policy to ensure that this continues to be a net asset.”

The former Navy commander has been working with the Virginia Tech College of Business to build cyber education programs and help close the knowledge gap in dealing with enterprise risk. “Most business leaders aren’t well prepared to assess the risk environment, much less appreciate it and drive investments that address risk reduction,” Simpson said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the VeeamON event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for VeeamOn 2018. Neither Veeam Software Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE