Collaborative Indo Pacific cyber agreements are key to handling cyberthreats

To take things a step further, governments should modernize procurement rules for data security that privilege legacy systems without improving safety. They should also partner more closely with industry to reduce the stigma of reporting cyber intrusions so hackers cannot repeat the same tactics with impunity. Governments can also nudge -- or if need be, require -- companies to adopt cyber best practices.

For its part, the U.S. should continue expanding cybersecurity partnerships across the Indo-Pacific region. New initiatives, like the trilateral working group formed with South Korea and Japan on North Korean cyberthreats, are promising. So is the recently concluded agreement with the European Union to establish a "cybertrust mark" to help consumers identify products that meet minimum cybersecurity standards. If it proves effective, Washington should expand the initiative to the Indo-Pacific.

In many ways, cybersecurity is the perfect test for every nation committed to an open, prosperous and integrated Indo-Pacific region in the 21st century. Rapidly emerging cyber threats will test each government's speed, agility and commitment to greater collaboration and information-sharing and will overwhelm nations that cling to outdated approaches or that fail to grasp the cyber domain's growing importance in geopolitics. New threats demand new thinking, and a recognition that no nation can achieve cybersecurity alone in our networked, digital age.