Elements Used For Cyber Defense

Cyber defense is “a computer network defense mechanism which includes a response to actions and critical infrastructure protection and information assurance for organizations, government entities, and other possible networks” (What is Cyber Defense? – Definition from Techopedia, 2020). It focuses on the prevention, detection and timely responses to Cybersecurity threats so that no infrastructure is manipulated. Cyber defense analyses all types of different threats that are possible to the computer network and drives forward the strategies to counter the malicious Cybersecurity threats. Cyber defense can protect certain entities as well as having a rapid response to a threat landscape, meaning it can reduce the appeal of the computer network to the attackers, but also understanding that there are critical locations and sensitive information that would be inviting to attackers but having attack detection capabilities in order to stop them early. This emphasizes that Cyberdefense has the ability to carry out technical analysis that identifies paths and areas that attackers would want to attack, whether it be because it is a vulnerability in the computer network or because it is where the sensitive information is stored. “The incentive for cybercrime, cyber espionage, and cyberwarfare that emerged with the growth of cyberinfrastructure have given rise to a wide range of actors who regularly attempt to profit from the vulnerability of computerized systems” (B. Andres, 2012, pg.91), in order to combat the cybercriminals and to keep themselves safe, the Department of Defense in the USA created the US Cyber Command in 2010 which merges the direction of cyberspace operations, reinforces DoD cyberspace abilities and assimilates and boosts DoD’s cyber expertise. Departments like this are able to identify and combat the cybercriminals at a rapid pace all while learning what is appealing to a cybercriminal essentially learning through their mistakes to make their system more secure.

“Despite the history of offensive cyber activity being much longer than is commonly thought, cyber defense is still considered a new discipline” (Giles and Hartman, 2015, pg. 1). Cyber defense is used currently as more of a military application, the military use it to protect confidential and secret communications, as Cybersecurity continues to grow Cyberdefense will need to be used in real-world application to better companies and individuals and as the notion of Cyberdefense develops, over time the effect that Cybersecurity threats have on us as a society will lessen. Currently, Cyberdefense protects the military against digital attacks, there is different elements that make Cyberdefense more secure. The elements are Cyber sensors and exploitation, Cyber situation awareness, Cyber defensive mechanism, Cyber command and control, Cyber strategies and tactics and Cyberscience and engineering.

Cyber sensors and exploitation

The Cyber sensors and exploitation are “the ‘eye’ of the system; they determine the attack capability, plans, and actions of an adversary – the essential first step to any dynamic defense” (Saydjari, 2004, pg. 54). To put this in terms of Cybersecurity it is essentially the Intrusion Detection System, where the computer system is able to identify unauthorized individuals that are trying to enter the system. Understanding that a key part of Cyber sensors and exploitation is that sometimes the attacker will succeed in gaining access to the system that they are trying to protect. If there is a slight assumption that the computer and network system is fully secure, vulnerabilities will be more visible making it more likely that they will be attacked.

Cyber situation awareness

Cyber situation awareness “is a process that transforms sensed data into a decision aid by interpreting mission consequences and the context of other activity” (Saydjari, 2004, pg. 54). A Cyber situation awareness gives a specific look at the threats and vulnerabilities which furthermore allows organizations or in this case the military to identify, process, and deal with information in real-time. Cyber situation awareness limits the capability for human error which can be considered the most vulnerable link in Cybersecurity, it allows organizations to establish a threat intelligence which means that not only is the company safer but alerts all key personnel if there is an attack.

Cyber defensive mechanism

Cyber defensive mechanism “is technology to counter threats” (Saydjari, 2004, pg. 54). As Cyberdefense has been a military application only it means that it has created cyber-defense mechanisms that work, such as, “cryptography countering intercepted secret messages, virus scanners countering viruses, and firewalls countering hacker exploitations” (Saydjari, 2004, pg. 54). These mechanisms are important building blocks for real-world application because it gives large companies a chance to see how Cyberdefense mechanism work and how they could work in a business setting. For example, most companies and individuals use firewalls as an extra barrier against hackers.

Cyber Command and control

Cyber Command and control “is the process of making and executing decisions – orchestrating defensive systems, based on input from the situation awareness element” (Saydjari, 2004, pg. 54). This element relies on understanding the situation that the system is in and doing it in a timely fashion in order to protect what is on the computer and network systems, it is similar to the Intrusion Prevention system where it finds the vulnerability, communicates the decision to the administrator and executes the decision quickly.

Cyber strategies and tactics

Cyber strategies and tactics “is the knowledge of what constitutes a good decision in terms of initial defensive policies and configurations as well as changes needed during operations because of attack situations” (Saydjari, 2004, pg. 54). When a cyberattack is taking place there is a lot of unknowns, so therefore in order to know whether the defensive system will work is to model a cyberattack and see how the system reacts. If anything needs to be changed or updated, it can be before a real-time cyber attack happens.

Cyberscience and engineering

Cyberscience and engineering “is the foundation yielding an understanding of design, composition, building, and maintenance of effective defense systems” (Saydjari, 2004, pg. 54). The foundation currently is essentially so weak that it does not exist, when there is a need for real-world application of Cyberdefense it could mean that it does not work as well as it could until these issues are resolved.