An attack on U.S. critical infrastructure is imminent, a majority of security experts said in a recent survey, an alarm bell from IT professionals regarding America’s porous digital infrastructure.

A report from Black Hat released June 26 said that 69 percent of respondents believe that an attack on American critical infrastructure is coming in the next two years. Only 15 percent of respondents said they believe that the county will be able to respond. The suspected culprits of such an attack were hardly surprising: China and Russia.

Governments define critical infrastructure as assets that are crucial for a functioning society, such as power grids, financial systems and election systems.

The report highlighted security experts mistrust of the current political environment. Only 13 percent of respondents said that Congress and the White House understand the cyberthreat and will take steps to secure the critical infrastructure.

“Our United States government has no clue about technology, the internet, and how our modern era’s data and information moves,” one respondent said in the report. “It’s absolutely terrifying that these people make laws and guide our nation. They are obsolete.”

Black Hat reported that security professionals appear happier in their positions than previous years, and said it was driven by a booming income. Roughly 30 percent of those surveyed said they made more than $150,000. Still, women make up less than 15 percent of the workforce, and minorities account for roughly 26 percent.

The survey was based on 315 management and security professionals who attended the Black Hat conference in 2017 and planned to do so in 2018.

Justin Lynch is the Associate Editor at Fifth Domain. He has written for the New Yorker, the Associated Press, Foreign Policy, the Atlantic, and others. Follow him on Twitter @just1nlynch.

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