Rethinking Defensive Information Warfare

Abstract

Although the origins of information warfare lie in the defense of critical computer systems, defensive information warfare (DIW) per se has advanced little beyond an information assurance model. Information assurance is an integral part of any military organization's operations, but it falls far short of meeting the needs for robust defense of critical command-and-control (C2) computer networks against a sophisticated adversary. By looking at the ways that militaries have responded to challenging defensive situations in the past, some insights can be made into the nature of IW and potential application of conventional operations. This paper examines defensive tactics and strategies from the German defense in depth that emerged from World War I to the American Active Defense that developed in the Cold War and proposes a new mindset for DIW that draws on these operational concepts from military history.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA465836

Entities

People

  • Geoffrey S. French

Organizations

  • General Dynamics

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Cyber
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Command And Control
  • Computer Network Security
  • Computer Networks
  • Cyberattacks
  • Cyberspace Operations
  • Information Operations
  • Information Warfare
  • Intrusion Detection
  • Intrusion Detection Systems
  • Intrusion Detectors
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Operating Systems
  • Operations Security
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control