Greater focus on defense of critical infrastructure against cyber attacks is needed, says cyber agency chief

In the wake of the Colonial Pipeline and JBS ransomware attacks in recent months, the head of the nation's leading cybersecurity agency says these events are a harbinger of what's to come on the cyber front and there needs to be a greater focus on shoring up the defenses of America's most important assets.

"Both of those incidents highlight the actual real world consequences of cyber incidents, targeting our critical infrastructure. And while today those attacks have impacted Americans at the gas pump and at the supermarkets, our concern is where could this go next," Brandon Wales, the current acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told CNN's Pamela Brown in an interview. While attacks like the ones on JBS and Colonial Pipeline are not new, they have increased in recent years, according to Wales, and they're bolder than ever -- leading criminal attackers to look for bigger targets for more ransom money, including targets that have real world consequences.