As the Trump administration begins, expect a ramp-up in cyber espionage as well as more “test attacks” by nation-states, says cybersecurity specialist Brad Medairy of the consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton.

“We’re really in a transitional state right now,” Medairy says in an interview with Information Security Media Group. “We’re shifting from the Obama administration to the new Trump administration … The new administration’s policies around cyber are still being defined.”

This lack of definitive cybersecurity policies makes the U.S. particularly vulnerable, he contends.

“I think that really presents an opportunity for some of the nation-state actors to test us,” Medairy says. “U.S. companies have a wealth of information, whether it’s some of our next-generation drugs being developed in the pharmaceutical industry or stuff that we’re doing around high-tech manufacturing in the automotive industry. All of those are extremely valuable assets that nation-states and some of the major powers around the globe are interested in. And China is a great example. There’s been sort of an unspoken agreement between the Obama administration and China, and we’ve seen a decline over the past year in some of the Chinese-related activities.”

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