cyber vulnerabilities to dod systems may include

Our working definition of deterrence is therefore consistent with how Nye approaches the concept. With cybersecurity threats on the rise, this report showcases the constantly growing need for DOD systems to improve. Credibility lies at the crux of successful deterrence. and Is Possible, in Understanding Cyber Conflict: 14 Analogies, ed. As Jacquelyn Schneider notes, this type of deterrence involves the use of punishment or denial across domains of warfighting and foreign policy to deter adversaries from utilizing cyber operations to create physical or virtual effects.31 The literature has also examined the inverse aspect of cross-domain deterrencenamely, how threats in the cyber domain can generate instability and risk for deterrence across other domains. Many IT professionals say they noticed an increase in this type of attacks frequency. While the Pentagon report has yet to be released, a scathing report on Defense Department weapons systems [2] published early this October by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) [] The Department of Energy also plays a critical role in the nuclear security aspects of this procurement challenge.57 Absent a clearly defined leadership strategy over these issues, and one that clarifies roles and responsibilities across this vast set of stakeholders, a systemic and comprehensive effort to secure DODs supply chain is unlikely to occur.58. , ed. The operator will see a "voodoo mouse" clicking around on the screen unless the attacker blanks the screen. Sharing information with other federal agencies, our own agencies, and foreign partners and allies who have advanced cyber capabilities. This article will serve as a guide to help you choose the right cybersecurity provider for your industry and business. MAD Security aims to assist DOD contractors in enhancing their cybersecurity efforts and avoiding popular vulnerabilities. For instance, it did not call for programs to include cyberattack survivability as a key performance parameter.52 These types of requirements are typically established early in the acquisitions process and drive subsequent system design decisionmaking. Art, To What Ends Military Power? International Security 4, no. Specifically, efforts to defend forward below the level of warto observe and pursue adversaries as they maneuver in gray and red space, and to counter adversary operations, capabilities, and infrastructure when authorizedcould yield positive cascading effects that support deterrence of strategic cyberattacks.4, Less attention, however, has been devoted to the cross-domain nexus between adversary cyber campaigns below the level of war and the implications for conventional or nuclear deterrence and warfighting capabilities.5 The most critical comparative warfighting advantage the United States enjoys relative to its adversaries is its technological edge in the conventional weapons realmeven as its hold may be weakening.6 Indeed, this is why adversaries prefer to contest the United States below the level of war, in the gray zone, and largely avoid direct military confrontation where they perceive a significant U.S. advantage. Kristen Renwick Monroe (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 2002), 293312. But where should you start? These applications can result in real-time operational control adjustments, reports, alarms and events, calculated data source for the master database server archival, or support of real-time analysis work being performed from the engineering workstation or other interface computers. Counterintelligence Core Concerns Common firewall flaws include passing Microsoft Windows networking packets, passing rservices, and having trusted hosts on the business LAN. Significant stakeholders within DOD include the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, the Cybersecurity Directorate within the National Security Agency, the DOD Cyber Crime Center, and the Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Program, among others. Innovations in technology and weaponry have produced highly complex weapons systems, such as those in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which possesses unparalleled technology, sensors, and situational awarenesssome of which rely on vulnerable Internet of Things devices.37 In a pithy depiction, Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein describes the F-35 as a computer that happens to fly.38 However, the increasingly computerized and networked nature of these weapons systems makes it exponentially more difficult to secure them. 11 Robert J. Until recently, DODs main acquisitions requirements policy did not systematically address cybersecurity concerns. In recent years, that has transitioned to VPN access to the control system LAN. large versionFigure 16: Man-in-the-middle attacks. Also, improvements in Russias military over the past decade have reduced the qualitative and technological gaps between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. . Adversaries studied the American way of war and began investing in capabilities that targeted our strengths and sought to exploit perceived weaknesses.21 In this new environment, cyberspace is a decisive arena in broader GPC, with significant implications for cross-domain deterrence.22, The literature on the feasibility of deterrence in cyberspace largely focuses on within-domain deterrencein other words, the utility and feasibility of using (or threatening) cyber means to deter cyber behavior.23 Scholars have identified a number of important impediments to this form of cyber deterrence.24 For instance, the challenges of discerning timely and accurate attribution could weaken cyber deterrence through generating doubt about the identity of the perpetrator of a cyberattack, which undermines the credibility of response options.25 Uncertainty about the effects of cyber capabilitiesboth anticipating them ex ante and measuring them ex postmay impede battle damage assessments that are essential for any deterrence calculus.26 This uncertainty is further complicated by limitations in the ability to hold targets at risk or deliver effects repeatedly over time.27 A deterring state may avoid revealing capabilities (which enhances the credibility of deterrence) because the act of revealing them renders the capabilities impotent.28 Finally, the target may simply not perceive the threatened cyber costs to be sufficiently high to affect its calculus, or the target may be willing to gamble that a threatened action may not produce the effect intended by the deterring state due to the often unpredictable and fleeting nature of cyber operations and effects.29 Others offer a more sanguine take. National Defense University George Perkovich and Ariel E. Levite (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2017), 147157; and Justin Sherman, How the U.S. Can Prevent the Next Cyber 9/11, Wired, August 6, 2020, available at . Erik Gartzke and Jon R. Lindsay (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 104. See also Alexander L. George, William E. Simons, and David I. It is common to find RTUs with the default passwords still enabled in the field. 55 Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, available at ; DOD, Press Briefing by Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen M. Lord, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Kevin Fahey, and Chief Information Security Officer for Acquisition Katie Arrington, January 31, 2020, available at . 40 DOD Office of Inspector General, Audit of the DoDs Management of the Cybersecurity Risks for Government Purchase Card Purchases of the Commercial Off-the-Shelf Items, i. Setting and enforcing standards for cybersecurity, resilience and reporting. Ransomware is a form of cyber-extortion in which users are unable to access their data until a ransom is paid. 24 Michael P. Fischerkeller and Richard J. Harknett, Deterrence Is Not a Credible Strategy for Cyberspace, Orbis 61, no. A binding operational directive is a compulsory direction to federal, executive branch, departments and agencies for purposes of safeguarding federal information . Inevitably, there is an inherent tension between Congresss efforts to act in an oversight capacity and create additional requirements for DOD, and the latters desire for greater autonomy. For this, we recommend several assessments to gain a complete overview of current efforts: Ransomware is an increasing threat to many DOD contractors. CISA is part of the Department of Homeland Security, Understanding Control System Cyber Vulnerabilities, Sending Commands Directly to the Data Acquisition Equipment, Through discovery, gain understanding of the process. Misconfigurations. Cyber Defense Infrastructure Support. Some key works include Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: More May Be Better, Adelphi Papers 171 (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1981); Lawrence D. Freedman and Jeffrey Michaels, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (London: Macmillan, 1989); Robert Powell, Nuclear Deterrence Theory: The Search for Credibility (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Richard K. Betts, Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1987); Bernard Brodie, Strategy in the Missile Age (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015); Schelling, Arms and Influence. Each control system vendor is unique in where it stores the operator HMI screens and the points database. A 2021 briefing from the DOD Inspector General revealed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in a B-2 Spirit Bomber, guided missile, missile warning system, and tactical radio system. Building dependable partnerships with private-sector entities who are vital to helping support military operations. Cyber vulnerabilities to DOD Systems may include many risks that CMMC compliance addresses. Specifically, the potential for cyber operations to distort or degrade the ability of conventional or even nuclear capabilities to work as intended could undermine the credibility of deterrence due to a reduced capability rather than political will.17 Moreover, given the secret nature of cyber operations, there is likely to be information asymmetry between the deterring state and the ostensible target of deterrence if that target has undermined or holds at risk the deterring states capabilities without its knowledge. Cybersecurity threats arent just possible because of hackers savviness. Perhaps most distressingly, the GAO has been warning about these cyber vulnerabilities since the mid-1990s. 5 For a notable exception, see Erik Gartzke and Jon R. Lindsay, eds., Cross-Domain Deterrence: Strategy in an Era of Complexity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019). . Ransomware. 6. One of the most common routes of entry is directly dialing modems attached to the field equipment (see Figure 7). (2015), 5367; Nye, Deterrence and Dissuasion, 4952. the cyber vulnerabilities that exist across conventional and nuclear weapons platforms pose meaningful risks to deterrence. Work remains to be done. Note that in the case above, Cyber vulnerabilities to dod systems may include All of the above Options. L. No. A typical network architecture is shown in Figure 2. large versionFigure 2: Typical two-firewall network architecture. Art, To What Ends Military Power?, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Deterrence and Dissuasion in Cyberspace,. All of the above 4. To understand the vulnerabilities associated with control systems (CS), you must first know all of the possible communications paths into and out of the CS. False 3. Users are shown instructions for how to pay a fee to get the decryption key. Actionable information includes potential system vulnerabilities, demonstrated means of exploitation of those vulnerabilities . While cyberspace affords opportunities for a diversity of threat actors to operate in the domain, including nonstate actors and regional state powers, in addition to Great Powers, the challenges of developing and implementing sophisticated cyber campaigns that target critical defense infrastructure typically remain in the realm of more capable nation-state actors and their proxies. Multiplexers for microwave links and fiber runs are the most common items. 5 (2014), 977. A potential impediment to implementing this recommendation is the fact that many cyber threats will traverse the boundaries of combatant commands, including U.S. Cyber Command, U.S. Strategic Command, and the geographic combatant commands. This articles discussion of credibility focuses on how cyber operations could undermine the credibility of conventional and nuclear deterrence, rather than the challenge of how to establish credible deterrence using cyber capabilities. The Defense Department is in the stages of improving the cyber security of the weapon systems it develops and the vulnerabilities of these systems are made worse due to their complexity, warns a new report by congressional auditors. 30 Dorothy E. Denning, Rethinking the Cyber Domain and Deterrence, Joint Force Quarterly 77 (2nd Quarter 2015). Strengthening the cybersecurity of systems and networks that support DOD missions, including those in the private sector and our foreign allies and partners. Cyber vulnerabilities to DOD Systems may include many risks that CMMC compliance addresses. See, for example, Eric Heginbotham et al., The U.S.-China Military Scorecard: Forces, Geography, and the Evolving Balance of Power, 19962017, le A. Flournoy, How to Prevent a War in Asia,, June 18, 2020; Christopher Layne, Coming Storms: The Return of Great-Power War,, Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, (Washington, DC: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, February 13, 2018), available at, National Security Strategy of the United States of America, (Washington, DC: The White House, December 2017), 27, available at <, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf, Daniel R. Coats, Annual Threat Assessment Opening Statement, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 29, 2019, available at <, https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Testimonies/2019-01-29-ATA-Opening-Statement_Final.pdf. They make threat outcomes possible and potentially even more dangerous. Streamlining public-private information-sharing. However, the credibility conundrum manifests itself differently today. Risks stemming from nontechnical vulnerabilities are entirely overlooked in strategies and policies for identifying and remediating cyber vulnerabilities in DOD weapons systems. Networks can be used as a pathway from one accessed weapon to attack other systems. DODIG-2019-106 (Washington, DC: DOD, July 26, 2019), 2, available at <, https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/DODIG-2019-106.pdf, Valerie Insinna, Inside Americas Dysfunctional Trillion-Dollar Fighter-Jet Program, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/magazine/f35-joint-strike-fighter-program.html, Robert Koch and Mario Golling, Weapons Systems and Cyber SecurityA Challenging Union, in, ed. An attacker wishing control simply establishes a connection with the data acquisition equipment and issues the appropriate commands. Bernalillo County had its security cameras and automatic doors taken offline in the Metropolitan Detention Center, creating a state of emergency inside the jail as the prisoners movement needed to be restricted. Cyber threats to these systems could distort or undermine their intended uses, creating risks that these capabilities may not be reliably employable at critical junctures. See also Alexander L. George, William E. Simons, and David I. 41 Weapon Systems Cybersecurity: DOD Just Beginning to Grapple with Scale of Vulnerabilities, GAO-19-128 (Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 2018), available at . Often the easiest way onto a control system LAN is to take over neighboring utilities or manufacturing partners. Then, in 2004, another GAO audit warned that using the Internet as a connectivity tool would create vast new opportunities for hackers. 4 (Spring 1980), 6. 115232August 13, 2018, 132 Stat. Additionally, the current requirement is to assess the vulnerabilities of individual weapons platforms. An attacker that wants to be surgical needs the specifics in order to be effective. CISA cites misconfigurations and poor security controls as a common reason why hackers can get initial access to sensitive data or company systems due to critical infrastructure. Hall, eds.. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), for a more extensive list of success criteria. Two years ago, in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act [1], Congress called on the Defense Department to evaluate the extent of cyber vulnerabilities in its weapons systems by 2019. To understand the vulnerabilities associated with control systems you must know the types of communications and operations associated with the control system as well as have an understanding of the how attackers are using the system vulnerabilities to their advantage. 3 (January 2017), 45. One study found that 73% of companies have at least 1 critical security misconfiguration that could potentially expose them to an attack. large versionFigure 5: Business LAN as backbone. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) is the most significant attempt ever undertaken by Congress to improve national cybersecurity and protect U.S. critical infrastructure from nation-state, non-state, and criminal behavior. A person who is knowledgeable in process equipment, networks, operating systems and software applications can use these and other electronic means to gain access to the CS. Tests, implements, deploys, maintains, reviews, and administers the infrastructure hardware and software that are required to effectively manage the computer network defense service provider network and resources. However, GAO reported in 2018 that DOD was routinely finding cyber vulnerabilities late in its development process. Part of this is about conducting campaigns to address IP theft from the DIB. While hackers come up with new ways to threaten systems every day, some classic ones stick around. Deterrence postures that rely on the credible, reliable, and effective threat to employ conventional or nuclear capabilities could be undermined through adversary cyber operations. What we know from past experience is that information about U.S. weapons is sought after. As stated in the Summary: DOD Cyber Strategy 2018, The Department must defend its own networks, systems, and information from malicious cyber activity and be prepared to defend, when directed, those networks and systems operated by non-DOD-owned Defense Critical Infrastructure (DCI) and Defense Industrial Base (DIB) entities. Ensuring the Cyber Mission Force has the right size for the mission is important. 1 (2017), 3748. He reiterated . 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