With down-to-earth humor and unmistakable intelligence, General Keith Alexander (Ret.), now IronNet Cybersecurity President and CEO, spoke to APCO 2017 attendees at Monday’s Opening General Session about the state of the U.S.’s technology in terms of cyber threats and how we can solve them.

Alexander’s amusing yet eye-opening anecdotes included how he became the director of the NSA and began the nation’s cybersecurity program at the inadvertent nod of President Bush’s head. Taking the audience on a journey from the inception of serious cyber threats in 2007 when Russia cyber-attacked Estonia and Georgia, to 2008 when the NSA discovered malware in the defense department network and developed a system to solve it within 22 hours, Alexander shed light on the catalyst for setting up U.S. cybersecurity.

But when it’s a company – such as was the recent case with Sony – not a country, being attacked by hackers, who has the responsibility to handle it? After all, Alexander pointed out, “When a company is being [cyber] attacked, there is no 9-1-1 to call.” He insisted that this is a governmental issue: “We built this nation, our government, for the common defense.” There is no exception, he reminded attendees, in the Constitution for cyber attacks.

With malware such as Petya, NoPetya and its ilk looming as huge threats, Alexander said we will see Russian, Iranian and North Korean hackers making cyber attacks for financial or governmental gain (or retribution, in the case of sanctions). We have weaknesses in our cyber defense and are not prepared for cyber war, he said, but this is solvable – “It’s all of us, working together.”

So how do we stop attacks like this? Alexander said it comes down to two essentials: 1.) Cyber companies have to work together to share information with each other and with the government, and 2.) we have to do it at network speed.

In a meeting with President Trump, Alexander said, “It’s the government’s job to defend the country, and we have to set up a framework to do it.” This is where APCO members come in – connectivity will be essential. “I think we can do this. We, as a nation, can move forward.”