cyber security
Cyber Threat and Military Challenges*
Introduction
History has shown that wars are won not only by the courage and strength of the men and women on the battlefield; but also, by the evolving technology adopted by the military. In the cyberspace, two distinct regimes emerge for the military. The first regime is the open network with its inherent risks and vulnerabilities which is essential for collaboration, information sharing, logistics etc. The second regime of closed network meets the demands of security, speed of operation and availability of information at the right time and place. To maintain confidentiality, integrity and availability, closed network is air gapped from open network. In addition to these networks, the military is also exposed to commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware and software products for wireless, cellular phones, computers, networking equipment etc. Therefore, increased dependence of the military on civilian cyberspace capabilities have inherent risks and make them vulnerable to cyber-attacks by attack vectors which are prevalent in commercial/open cyberspace. This paper draws attention to current cyber threats and challenges that the military faces.
Cyberspace
Cyberspace includes not only the internet but also telecommunications, cellular phone technologies and wireless data services. The technologies involved, such as bandwidth, interoperability, processor speed, functionality and security vulnerabilities have evolved over time.
Design Flaw. Internet which is the major platform in cyberspace is loosely based on the legacy model of Open System Interconnection (OSI) in which most commonly, internet protocol (IP) is paired with Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to form TCP/IP. The three way handshake of the TCP software for packet exchange is user-friendly but is one of the causes of flooding and other attacks.
SCADA. Increasingly today, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) devices are being used to
Introduction
History has shown that wars are won not only by the courage and strength of the men and women on the battlefield; but also, by the evolving technology adopted by the military. In the cyberspace, two distinct regimes emerge for the military. The first regime is the open network with its inherent risks and vulnerabilities which is essential for collaboration, information sharing, logistics etc. The second regime of closed network meets the demands of security, speed of operation and availability of information at the right time and place. To maintain confidentiality, integrity and availability, closed network is air gapped from open network. In addition to these networks, the military is also exposed to commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware and software products for wireless, cellular phones, computers, networking equipment etc. Therefore, increased dependence of the military on civilian cyberspace capabilities have inherent risks and make them vulnerable to cyber-attacks by attack vectors which are prevalent in commercial/open cyberspace. This paper draws attention to current cyber threats and challenges that the military faces.
Cyberspace
Cyberspace includes not only the internet but also telecommunications, cellular phone technologies and wireless data services. The technologies involved, such as bandwidth, interoperability, processor speed, functionality and security vulnerabilities have evolved over time.
Design Flaw. Internet which is the major platform in cyberspace is loosely based on the legacy model of Open System Interconnection (OSI) in which most commonly, internet protocol (IP) is paired with Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to form TCP/IP. The three way handshake of the TCP software for packet exchange is user-friendly but is one of the causes of flooding and other attacks.
SCADA. Increasingly today, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) devices are being used to