SPECIAL
REPORT
ft0r j n t j \ r ;
The challenges of defending sensitive U.S. militar y computer syst sy stem em s and networks netwo rks from fro m malicious hackers, hackers, as well as devices offensive cyber strategies, strateg ies, are aims a ims of newly new ly created milita ry cyber commands.
J.R. Wilson
Throughout the histo ry of warfare, warfare, new technologies have changed a given era’s balance balan ce of o f power completely, often oft en bring br inging down states and replacing replacing them with those m ost adept at using the superior ca pability. For the th e first firs t 12,000 12,000 years of recorded history, those advances were occasionally in force structure (i.e., Roman legions) or tactics, tactics, but predominantly in hardw are (the English longbow, gun powder, aircraft, atomic weapons, satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.). But the 21st Century saw the rise of a new threat, a “Fifth Domain of War” in addition to land, sea, air and space—cyber space. space. While cyb er security, even cyber warfare, had its roots in the first significant significant use of military computers compu ters in World World War II, II, it grew in significance with each succeeding decade. As the 21st century dawned, nearly every aspect of human activity had become irrevocably intertwined with cyber space, from the public global Internet and its newer military counterparts to GPS precision locatio location, n, navigation, and ti ming to www.militaryaerospace.com
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financial transactions and personal cyber attack th at could open or lock communications. That also raised flood gates to inundate areas behind the bar on ensuring the security of or below the dam. digital and cyber space elements More direct cyber attacks, conand an accompanying increase in sidered “tes ts”, have been mounted the volume, intensity and sophisagainst small components of the na tication of computer and network tional electric power grid. As natu hacking, malware and, ultimately, rally occurring blackouts in Canada, cyber weapons. the U.S. Northeast and elsewhere So far as is known outside classi- in recent years have demonstratfied sources, the leading use of cyed, taking down even one key part ber weapons to date has included of tha t in frastructure could lead to the Stuxnet virus (of suspected—but a cascade effect, blacking out far never confirmed—U.S./Israeli orilarger par ts of North America. The gin) used to take down Iran’s nucle- growing sophistication of cyber caar research computers; Russian con- pabilities—among nations and nonfirmed and suspected cyber attacks nation states—also is making it on Estonia, Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia increasingly difficult to trace the orand Estonia; and Chinese incursions igin of such attacks. into U.S. military, government, and At one stage in 2010, more than civilian infrastructure networks. three dozen separate cyber security In May 2013, a cyber intrusion related proposals were introduced was confirmed into one of Ameriin Congress. The first decade of the ca’s most sensitive physical in fra21st Century saw an explosion in the stru cture databases—the U.S. Army creation of cyber security agencies, Corps of Engineers National Invendepartments, and offices throughtory of Dams. The NID database out the U.S. government throughout contains vulnerability details on the world. some 8100 major dams across U.S. This movement also elevated inwaterways, knowledge that could formation technology (IT) from the enable an adversary to conduct a “nerd” department responsible for www.militaryaerospace.com
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MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS
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keeping an org anizatio n’s phon es
“One area we are focusing on
and computers working to the h eart
is mov ing beyond traditio nal IT,
of secure data and networking.
which is another skill set. That’s
According to the 2013 Data
an area we haven’t considered as
Breach Inves tigations Report, 92 per-
much in th e past, so we are now
cent of cyber security breaches are
reviewing t ha t—how w e do it now,
of ext ern al origin: “Motive corre-
how we’ll do it in the future,” says
lates very highly with country of or-
Troy Johnson, director of capability
igin. The majority of financially mo-
integration (N2/N6FX) for the Office
tivated incidents involved actors in
of the Chief of Naval Operations
eithe r the U.S. or Eastern Europe-
(OPNAV) and Task Group Navy Cy-
an countries (e.g., Romania, Bulgaria and the Russian Federation), while 96 percent of espionage cases were
be r Securit y lead. “We’re working it from both ends. “The Task Force [Cyber Awaken-
attributed to threat actors in China
ing] is cyber security on the inside,
and the remaining 4 percent were
while the EW [electronic warfare]
unknown. This may mean that oth-
side is broken down into electron-
simulated test in the Central Control Facility
er threat groups perform their ac-
ic attack, support and detects, so on
at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Air Force photo.
tivities with greater stealth and sub-
the prote ction side we’re working on
terfuge. But it also could mean that
hardening entry points through the
place for m ili tary comman d and
China is, in fact, the most active
spectrum, through electronic pro-
control,” with a security focus on
source of national and industrial es-
tect on the outside as well as in-
military operations.
pionage in th e world today.” For the U.S. military, creation of
side the system, between the net-
Electronic warfare officers monitor a
CYBERCOM has three core mis-
work comp onents ,” Johns on says.
sions: cyber sup port to U.S. and al-
the U.S. Cyber Command (CYBER
“The computer and EW groups have
COM) in May 2010 as a subunified
grown up separately, but now are
lied military comm anders; defending DOD information networks; and
command subordinate to U.S. Stra-
growing together, merging together.”
defending the nati on’s critical infra -
tegic Comm and has bee n likened to
structure and key resources from
the elevation of the Army Air Corps
U.S. Cyber Command
to a separate military service as
CYBERCOM’s mission is to operate
the U.S. Air Force—the “Third Do-
and defend sensitive U.S. Depart-
ma nd specifically, the Departm ent
main of War”—and with in it, in
ment of Defense (DOD) computer
of Defense is in the mid st of a three
1982, creation of the Air Force Space
networks, conduct defensive and of-
year journe y th at ’s going to create
Command (AFSPC) — the “Fourth
fensive cyber warfare operations,
a cyber workforce of approxim ately
Domain of War”—also as a compo-
and establish cyber superiority—
over 6,000 individuals,” CYBERCOM’s
nent of STRATCOM. AFSPC also be-
or the ability for the U.S. and its
commander, Adm. Michael Rogers,
came the lead Major Command for
allies to operate freely in cyber
said in his keynote address to the
Air Force cyber space operations in
space while denying cyber space to
2014 International Cyber Sympo-
2009, thus placing major compo-
adversaries.
sium in Baltimore.
nents of three dom ains of war u nder the Air Force.
“When I look at U.S. Cyber Com-
Similar to the s tructu re of the jo int Special Operations Comm and ,
As the focus on cyber warfare
enemy cyber attack.
U.S. Air Force
CYBERCOM comprises specially cre-
The Air Force has created several
and security grows, so does the
ated service compo nents such as
cyberrelated organizations, some
need to en sure it is not confused
the Navy Fleet Cyber Command,
tracing their origins back more
with nor too tightly bound to old-
Air Forces Cyber/24th Air Force, and
than 60 years. For example, the
er, established modes, such as Elec-
Army Cyber Command. Their goal
688th Cyberspace Wing stood up
tronic Warfare.
is to “make cyber space a suitable
in 1953 as the Air Force Special
10
DECEMBER 201 4
MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS
www.militaryaerospace.com
S P E C I A L
of widespread cyberrelated issues. In a mid2013 special report on cyber security by the Center for Digital Government, McLaughlin said traditional borders and even combat lines between allied and adversary forces are irrelevant in cyber space. “We are working to protect our
R E P O R T
key cyber terrain through focused, deliberate operations,” he said. “Working together w ith our sister services and other partners is the only way to get the full picture of our adversaries’ activities, thus the only way to posture ourselves ahead of those malicious efforts. We must
G r eat th in g s d o c om e in Communications Center, producing and disseminating intelligence data for the Air Force Security Service Agency. That expanded to include EW in the 1960s, leading in 1975 to its designation as Air Force’s first EW center. With the rise of what was known as Information Warfare in the early 1990s, the organization became the Air Force Information Warfare Center and, ultimately, the 688th Information Operations Wing, assigned to the 24th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas. Maj. Gen. James Kevin McLaughlin, commander of the 24th Air Force and Air Forces Cyber, has said the Air Force will add some 1,500 cyber positions during the next two years, even as the service undergoes an overall downsizing. They will focus on the Air Force’s growing reliance on networks, data centers, mobile devices—even cloud computing—which already has led to malware infections, every 60 seconds, of more than 200 computers linked to numerous others th at raise the reality www.militaryaerospace.com
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decade, DOD—and specifically the Navy—has be en forced to reassess our risk calculus for cyber, to understand from a risk perspective what we need to do to address this growing area. Because of that, we had to make sure we understood the risks of cyber as we move forward. According to the National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World an d Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, “the future international system will be almost un recognizable from prev ious decades owing to the rise of emerging powers, an i ncreasingly globalized economy, an un precedented tra ns fer of relative U.S. Army cyber warriors at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, look through information inside the
wealth and economic power flow-
Combined Air and Space Operations Center-Nellis during a recent Red Flag exercise. (Air
ing to Asian states and the growing
Force photo.)
influence of several nonstate ac-
also adopt the m indset of protecting
to inbound airborne thre ats—“In the
tors. The U.S. will remain the single
our most impo rtant assets and wor-
Air Force, we’ve always op erated at
mos t powerful country in the late
ry less about incursions that do not
the ‘speed of need’. Everything in
2020s, but will be less dominant on
cause harm to systems or missions.
cyber is speedofneed, every day.”
the world stage and will see its relative streng th—even in the military
ciently and effectively to ensure we
U.S.Navy
realm—decline."
can accomplish our mission.”
The Navy also has be en refocus-
We need to apply our resources effi-
McLaughlin has said all that has led to a shift of focus from network assurance to cyber elements key to mission assurance, with the
The Roadmap furth er outlined
ing and strengthening its cyberwar
the problems facing the U.S. in cy-
capabilities, as outlined in the U.S.
be r space: “The pro liferation of ad -
Navy Information Dominance Roadmap—20132028 and further ex-
vanced information technology could hind er U.S. efforts to m ain -
24th Air Force ulti m atel y loo king b e- pa nd ed by t he Augus t 2014 crea tion
tain future access to the cyber space
yond core the Air Force netw orks to
of Task Force Cyber Awak ening
domain. The rapid pace of scien-
ways to ensure capabilities to joint
(TFCA) within the Office of the Dep-
tific breakthroughs in information
commanders through a normalized
uty Chief of Naval Operations for In-
technology will continue to accel-
and formalized cyber structure and
formation Dominance (N2/N6).
erate. Joint Forces Command’s Joint
the tran sitio n of the 67th Network
“This is not only an enterprise ef-
Operating Environment po stulates
Warfare Wing and the 688th Infor-
fort, b ut also critical warfig hting,”
that such advances will change the
mation Operations Wing to cyber
Matthew H. Swartz, directorCom
very character of war. The emer-
space wings.
mu nicatio ns & Networks Division
gence of space and cyber space as
(N2/N6F1) and TFCA lead, told a me-
contested warfighting domains ...
chief of staff, said during his previ-
dia roundtable on 31 October. “Cy-
could impac t or jeopardize the Na-
ous command of the Air Force 624th
be r is no t ju st a new warfighting ef-
vy’s success in highth reat operating
Operations Center—comparing cy-
fort for us, but also a critical enabler
As Col. Alan Berry, AFCYBER
be r o perat ion s to th e req uiremen ts of air operations to respo nd quickly 12
DECEMBER 201 4
for our other warfighting domains and a n ew dom ain itself. In the last
MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS
environments.” At the October media roundta ble at th e Pen tagon, N2/N6 officials w w w . m i li ta r y a e r o s p a c e . c o m
SPE CIAL
outlined the year-long intent of Task Force Cyber Awakening, a cross-organizational effort to ad dress those issues by extending the Navy’s cyber security appar a tus beyond traditional IT to combat systems, combat support and other information systems. “The Navy must fight and win in the increasingly connected and contested cyber domain. TFCA will gain a holistic view of cyber securi ty risk across the Navy and address the fragmented and uneven efforts across our platforms and systems,” the CNO’s office said. Stood up in July 2014, TFCA is scheduled to conclude in August 2015, drawing on representation from across the entire Navy, includ ing OPNAV and the CNO staff, sig nificant fleet participation and the Marine Corps. Lt. Cmdr. Hasan Abdul-Mutakallim, lead for Task Group Ca pabilities, noted the difficulties TFCA is seeking to identify and r e solve: “We’re try ing to un derstan d what kind of defenses we need in place to resp ond to ever-chang ing threats. The risk we have to day may not be the risk we have to morrow. And as risk changes in one area, we have to flex the profile we have in other areas to improve our cyber defenses as a whole. So whether the domain is CANES [Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services] or NGEN [Next Generation Enterprise Network], what is th e layered approach?”
the Department of the Army. The command comprised some 21,000 soldiers, DoA civilians and contrac tors around the globe—what ARCYBER describes as “an unprecedented unity of effort and synchronization of all Army forces operating within the cyber domain”.
R EP OR T
The Army has transformed exist ing cyber space forces (Network En terprise Technology Command/9th Signal Command), portions of the 1st Information Operations Com mand and Intelligence and Securi ty Command (INSCOM) into ARCYBER. Its personnel are responsible
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The Army Cyber Command/2nd Army was designated a new threestar operational-level Army force in October 2010, reporting directly to w w w .m ilita ry a e ro s p a c e .c o m
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for Global Information Grid Operations, Defensive cyber space Operations and, when directed, Offensive cyber space Operations. In addition, ARCYBER provides full spectrum cyber space operations and Intelligence support to CYBERCOM and in support of Army operations. In addition to global cyber space operations, ARCYBER contin ues to develop the Global Network Enter prise Construct, to provide soldiers with a common set of applications and information resources, no matter where they are deployed. GNEC also supports the larger effort to transform the Army into a faster, more flexible organization. “We’re still building capability and are not yet where we should be; all commanders would like all cyber capabilities now,” Lt. Gen. Edward C. Cardon, comm ander of ARCYBER, says. “Cyber is a team sport— everyone does it a little differently, but we all work together. The good news is there already are tools out there; they just need to be brought into use. “I start off with defending the Army networks, th en build cyber ca pability, support the COCOMs, sup port th e repo sturing of the force. What concerns me about cyber security is, if you have a really good network, with 100 people keeping it secure, and 97 do exactly what they are supposed to do, that would show up on a lot of charts as green. On my chart, it would show as black, because those three would be points of vulnerability.” Another problem Cardon identified is the failure of industry and the military, until recently, to build cyber security into their programs and devices. 14
D EC E MB E R 2 0 1 4
The NexGen Cyber Innovation and Technology Center (NexGen) is for cyber research, and is the newest addition to Lockheed Martin 's po rtfolio of research facilities.
“Going to the cloud and using hypervisors and gold images that give us clean computers and services, enabling us to better protect the data, will be a lot better tha n wh at we have now—separate networks secured in a variety of different ways. So overall, I think it will be a major improvement in cyber security,” he says. “Right now, there is a clearly defined line betwe en where DISA [Defense Information Systems Agency] stops and the Army starts. But in cloud computing, that line no longer exists. “So how we manage the cloud will be a lot different from what we do today. No longer is it a question of a device, but what is around it, who manages it, how is its configuration managed. I’m a believer in big data cloud analytics, which I think will give us a lot of security, b ut I’m not a big advocate of clouds when you are in a remote place. We’re on the edge of another huge explosion of technology and the way we do things today will be very different five years from now. Mobile devices
MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS
are driving this change.” A major problem, he adds, is not ju st ensuring the Army’s top commanders are wellversed in cyber, but also expanding th at knowledge to the larger Army. “You have to protect your networks, determine how to use them and how to generate requirements for what we need to do down the road so we will be ready. The more competence, compliance and oversight we can put on this, the more useful cyber becomes,” Cardon says. “It’s really about what are the processes and procedures to do this. Up to this point, you see a lot of ca pabilities used at a very high level, bu t not so much at the tactical level. There probably are infantry m en and women out there who can do this; you just need the right assessment tool to find them. U.S. Coast Guard As it assumed a greater responsibility for national security as par t of the post9/11 D epa rtm ent of Homeland Security, the Coast www.militaryaerospace.com
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Guard is developing and concentrating cyber resources to defend
tive Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, established in May 2008 in
the natio n’s ports, terminals, ships, refineries and support systems— vital co mponents of America’s crit-
Tallinn, Estonia, is a NATOaccredited Intern ational Military Organization dealing with cyber securi-
R E PO R T
are considered particularly vulnerable to cyber attacks from China,
Russia and nearpeer adversaries. “There is growing understanding of the importance of cyber securiical infrastructure, national securi- ty education, consultation, lessons ty, that any vulnerability is a threat. ty and economy. learned and R&D. Although not part They say if you put a new comput“Cyber attacks on industrial of NATO command nor force stru cer on the network, it gets scanned control systems could kill or injure ture nor funded from the NATO withi n 5 seconds, so you really wan t workers, damage equipment, ex budget, the Centre is directed and to know your firewall is working. I pose th e public and the environtasked via the Allied Command thin k a lot of companies will look at ment to harmful pollutants and Transformation, with all products cyber as an element of their prodlead to extensive economic damavailable to NATO nations unless re- ucts rather t han an afterthought,” age,” according to the USCG’s Ofstricted by the organization request- says ARCYBER’s Cardon. fice of Port and Facility Coming that product. “The speed of war, the speed of pliance Cyber Security business and the speed of website. “The loss of ship life have all dramatically and cargo scheduling sysaccelerated. What used to tems could substantially take days now takes minslow cargo operations in utes or seconds ... The suc ports, leadin g to backups cess of operations depends across the transp ortation on security—and informasystem. A less overt cytion security needs to be ber att ack could faci litate emphasized right alongside the smuggling of people, physical security,” notes Air weapons of mass destrucForces Cyber’s McLaughlin. tion or other contraband “Cyber and IT are now into the country. Cyber Flag cyberspace force-on-force training fuses attack and commanders’business, defense across the full spectrum of military operations in a closed “In short, there are as critical to the warfighter. It network, environment many potential avenues is a new domain in which for cyber damage in the maritime In June 2014, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. we have to fight and win with sector as there are cyber systems. John Davis, Acting Deputy Assistant speed and agility, but the superiorWhile only some [of those] could ity we get in our other domains is Secretary of Defense for Cyber Polcredibly lead to a Transportation Se- icy, says DOD has identified severcontingent on our ability to provicurity Incident, we must identify al allied nations where a “signifision and protect our cyber capabiland prioritize those risks, take this cant im pact [or] existing th rea ts” of ities,” Swartz concluded, noting the threat seriously and work together active cyber attacks are higher than cyber threat is more mature than to improve our defenses." average. As a result, American and many of the organizations in place allied military officials are togethor standing up to deal with them. NATO and other allies er to flesh out defensive measures “We have superiority in othArticle 5 of the NATO charter states against malware, overall network er warfighting domains, but some tha t a military attack on one memdefense and various other TTPs to of tha t superiority is dependent on ber would be considered an attack close “technological gaps” within our ability to communicate inforon all. At a NATO summit in Septhose networks. mation,” Swartz added. “As th at in tember, the alliance extended that Davis says the p rimary focus of formation flows, we need to make to include cyber attacks. those efforts are U.S. allies in the sure it and those connections are In addition, the NATO CooperaMiddle East and AsiaPacific, which protected.” f www.militaryaerospace.com
MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS
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C o p y rig h t o f M ilita its c o n te n t m a y n o t c o p y r i g h t h o l d e r 's e a r tic l e s f o r i n d i v id u
ry b e x p a l
&
A e r o s p a c e E l e c t r o n i c s i s t h e p r o p e r t y o f P e n n W e l l C o r p o r a t i o n a n d c o p i e d o r e m a i l e d t o m u l t i p l e s i t e s o r p o s t e d t o a l i s t s e r v w i t h o u t t h e r e s s w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . H o w e v e r , u s e r s m a y p r i n t , d o w n l o a d , o r e m a i l u s e .
