Screening Heuristics for the Evaluation of Covert Network Node Insertion Scenarios

Abstract

The majority of research on covert networks uses social network analysis (SNA) to determine critical members of the network to either kill or capture for the purpose of network destabilization. This thesis takes the opposite approach and evaluates potential scenarios for inserting an agent into a covert network for information gathering purposes or future disruption operations. Due to the substantial number of potential insertion scenarios in a large network, this research proposes three screening heuristics that leverage SNA measures to reduce the solution space before applying a simple search heuristic.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2022
Accession Number
AD1176873

Entities

People

  • Andrew E. Pekarek

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Algorithms
  • Case Studies
  • Cellular Structures
  • Consistency
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Intelligence Collection
  • Law
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Performance Tests
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Societies
  • Terrorists
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Computer Networking
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Operations Research

Technology Areas

  • Space