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Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges (1999)

Chapter: 3 Information Systems Security

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Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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3
Information Systems Security

3.1 Introduction

DOD's increasing reliance on information technology in military operations increases the value of DOD's information infrastructure and information systems as a military target. Thus, for the United States to realize the benefits of increased use of C4I in the face of a clever and determined opponent, it must secure its C4I systems against attack.

As noted in Chapter 2, the maximum benefit of C4I systems is derived from their interoperability and integration. That is, to operate effectively, C4I systems must be interconnected so that they can function as part of a larger ''system of systems." These electronic interconnections multiply many-fold the opportunities for an adversary to attack them.

Maintaining the security of C4I systems is a problem with two dimensions. The first dimension is physical, that of protecting the computers and communications links as well as command and control facilities from being physically destroyed or jammed. For this task, the military has a great deal of relevant experience that it applies to systems in the field. Thus, the military knows to place key C4I nodes in well-protected areas, to put guards and other access control mechanisms in place to prevent sabotage, and so on. The military also knows how to design and use wireless communications links so that enemy jamming is less of a threat.

Information systems security is a much more challenging task. Information systems security—the task of protecting the C4I systems connected to the communications network against an adversary's information attack against those systems—is a much more poorly understood area than

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

physical security.1 Indeed, DOD systems are regularly attacked and penetrated,2 though most of these attacks fail to do damage. Recent exercises such as Eligible Receiver (Box 3.1) have demonstrated real and significant vulnerabilities in DOD C4I systems, calling into question their ability to perform properly when faced with a serious attack by a determined and skilled adversary.

Such observations are unfortunately not new. A series of earlier reports have noted a history of insufficient or ineffective attention to C4I information systems security (Box 3.2).

The problem of protecting DOD C4I systems against attack is enormously complicated by the fact that DOD C4I systems and the networks to which they are connected are not independent of the U.S. national information infrastructure.3 Indeed, the line between the two is quite blurred because many military systems make use of the civilian information infrastructure,4 and because military and civilian systems are often interconnected. DOD is thus faced with the problem of relying on components of the infrastructure over which it does not have control. While the general principles of protecting networks as described below apply to military C4I systems, both those connected to civilian components and those that are not, the policy issues related to DOD reliance on the national information infrastructure are not addressed in this report. Lastly, C4I systems are increasingly built upon commercial technologies and thus

1.  

Within the information technology industry, the term "information security" encompasses technical and procedural measures providing for confidentiality, authentication, data integrity, and non-repudiation, as well as for resistance to denial-of-service attacks. The committee understands that within many parts of DOD, the term "information security" does not have such broad connotations. Nevertheless, it believes that lack of a broad interpretation for the term creates problems for DOD because it focuses DOD on too narrow a set of issues. Note that information systems security does not address issues related to the quality of data before it is entered into the C4I system. Obviously, such issues are important to the achievement of information superiority, but they are not the focus of this chapter.

2.  

In 1996, the General Accounting Office reported that the DOD may have experienced 250,000 cyber-attacks in 1995 and that the number of cyber-attacks would increase in the future. Furthermore, the Defense Information Systems Agency estimated that "only about 1 in 50 attacks is actually detected and reported." For additional information, see General Accounting Office. 1996. Information Security: Computer Attacks at the Department of Defense Pose Increasing Risks, GAO/AIMD-96-84, General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C.

3.  

The U.S. national information infrastructure includes those information systems and networks that are used for all purposes, both military and civilian, whereas DOD's C4I systems are by definition used for military purposes.

4.  

More than 95 percent of U.S. military and intelligence community voice and data communications are carried over facilities owned by public carriers. (See Joint Security Commission, Redefining Security: A Report to the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence, February 28, 1994, Chapter 8.)

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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BOX 3.1 Eligible Receiver

Conducted in the summer of 1997 and directed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Eligible Receiver 97 was the first large-scale no-notice DOD exercise (a real, not tabletop, exercise) designed to test the ability of the United States to respond to an attack on the DOD and U.S. national infrastructure. This exercise involved a simulated attack against components of the national infrastructure (e.g., power and communications systems) and an actual "red team" attack against key defense information systems at the Pentagon, defense support agencies, and in combatant commands.

The attack on the national infrastructure was based on potential vulnerabilities, while the actual attack on defense systems exploited both actual and potential vulnerabilities. (The vulnerabilities exploited were common ones, including bad or easily guessed passwords, operating system deficiencies, and improper system configuration control, sensitive site-related information posted on open Web pages, inadequate user awareness of operational security, and poor operator training.) All red team attacks were based on information and techniques derived from open non-classified research, and no insider information was provided to the red team. Furthermore, the red team conducted extensive "electronic reconnaissance" before it executed its attacks.

The exercise demonstrated a high degree of interdependence between the defense and national information infrastructures. For example, the defense information infrastructure is extremely reliant on commercial computer and communication networks, and the public and private sectors often share common commercial software or systems. As a result, vulnerabilities demonstrated in DOD systems and procedures may be shared by others, and vulnerabilities in one area may allow exploitation in other areas.

The exercise revealed vulnerabilities in DOD information systems and deficiencies in the ability of the United States to respond effectively to a coordinated attack on the national infrastructure and information systems. Poor operations and information security practices provided many red team opportunities. In short, the exercise provided real evidence of network vulnerabilities.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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BOX 3.2 Some Related Studies on Information Security

Computers at Risk: Safe Computing in the Information Age1 focused on approaches for "raising the bar" of computer and communications security so that all users—both civilian and military—would benefit, rather than just those who are users and handlers of classified government information. The report responded to prevailing conditions of limited awareness by the public, system developers, system operators, and policymakers. To help set and raise expectations about system security, the study recommended:

  •  Development and promulgation of a comprehensive set of generally accepted security system principles;
  •  Creation of a repository of data about incidents;
  •  Education in practice, ethics, and engineering of secure systems; and
  •  Establishment of a new institution to implement these recommendations.

Computers at Risk also analyzed and suggested remedies for the failure of the marketplace to substantially increase the supply of security technology; export control criteria and procedures were named as one of many contributing factors. Observing that university-based research in computer security was at a "dangerously low level," the report mentioned broad areas where research should be pursued.

The 1996 Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Information Warfare Defense2 focused on defending against cyber-threats and information warfare. The task force documented an increasing military dependence on networked information infrastructures, analyzed vulnerabilities of the current networked information infrastructure, discussed actual attacks on that infrastructure, and formulated a list of threats that has been discussed broadly within the DOD and elsewhere. The task force concluded that "there is a need for extraordinary action to deal with the present and emerging challenges of defending against possible information warfare attacks on facilities, information, information systems, and networks of the United States which [sic] would seriously affect the ability of the Department of Defense to carry out its assigned missions and functions.''

Some of the task force recommendations answered organizational questions, e.g., where within DOD various information warfare defense functions might be placed, how to educate senior government and industry leaders about vulnerabilities and their implications, and how to determine current infrastructure dependencies and vulnerabilities. Other recommendations addressed short- and longer-term technical means for repelling attacks. The task force urged greater use of existing security technology, certain controversial encryption technology, and the construction of a minimum essential information infrastructure. The task force noted the low levels of activity concerning computer security and survivable systems at universities, and also suggested a research program for furthering the development of the following:

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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  •  System architectures that degrade gracefully and are resilient to failures or attacks directed at single components;
  •  Methods for modeling, monitoring, and managing large-scale distributed systems; and
  •  Tools and techniques for automated detection and analysis of localized or coordinated large-scale attacks, and tools and methods for predicting anticipated performance of survivable distributed systems.

Trust in Cyberspace3 proposed a research agenda for building networked systems that are more robust, reducing software design problems, and developing mechanisms to protect against new types of attacks from unauthorized users, criminals, or terrorists. The report noted that much of today's security technology for operating systems is based on a model of computing centered on mainframe computers. Today, different security mechanisms are needed to protect against the new classes of attacks that become possible because of computer networks, the distribution of software using the Internet, and the significant use of commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) software. Furthermore, the report recommended a more pragmatic approach to security that incorporates add-on technologies, such as firewalls, and utilizes the concept of defense in depth, which requires independent mechanisms to isolate failures so that they do not cascade from one area of the system to another.

In the area of network design, the report noted a need for research to better understand how networked information systems operate, how their components work together, and how changes occur over time. Since a typical computer network is large and complex, few engineers are likely to understand the entire system. Better conceptual models of such systems will help operators grasp the structure of these networks and better understand the effects of actions they may take to fix problems. Approaches to designing secure networks built from commercially available software warrant attention. Improvements in testing techniques and other methods for determining errors also are likely to have considerable payoffs for enhancing assurance in networked systems.

Finally, research is needed to deal with the major challenges for network software developers that arise because COTS components are used in the creation of most networked information systems. Indeed, today's networked information systems must be developed with limited access to significant pieces of the system and virtually no knowledge of how those pieces were developed.

  • 1.  

    Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council. 1991. Computers at Risk: Safe Computing in the Information Age, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

  • 2.  

    Defense Science Board. 1996. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Information Warfare-Defense (IW-D), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, Washington, D.C.

  • 3.  

    Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council. 1999. Trust in Cyberspace, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

are coming to suffer from the same basic set of vulnerabilities that are observed in the commercial sector.

3.1.1 Vulnerabilities in Information Systems and Networks

5

Information systems and networks can be subject to four generic vulnerabilities. The first is unauthorized access to data. By surreptitiously obtaining sensitive data (whether classified or unclassified) or by browsing a sensitive file stored on a C4I computer, an adversary might obtain information that could be used against the national security interests of the United States. Moreover, even more damage could occur if the fact of unauthorized access to data were to go unnoticed, because it would be impossible to take remedial action.

The second generic vulnerability is clandestine alteration of data . By altering data clandestinely, an adversary could destroy the confidence of a military planner or disrupt the execution of a plan. For example, alteration of logistics information could significantly disrupt deployments if troops or supplies were rerouted to the wrong destinations or supply requests were deleted.

A third generic vulnerability is identity fraud. By illicitly posing as a legitimate user, an adversary could issue false orders, make unauthorized commitments to military commanders seeking resources, or alter the situational awareness databases to his advantage. For example, an adversary who obtained access to military payroll processing systems could have a profound effect on military morale. An enemy who overruns a friendly position and gains access to the information network of friendly forces may see classified information with tactical significance or be able to insert bad information into friendly tactical databases.

A fourth generic vulnerability is denial of service. By denying or delaying access to electronic services, an adversary could compromise operational planning and execution, especially for time-critical tasks. For example, attacks that resulted in the unavailability of weather information systems could delay planning for military operations. Attacks that deny friendly forces the use of the Global Positioning System (e.g., through jamming) could cripple targeting of hostile forces and prevent friendly forces from knowing where they are. Denial of service is, in the view of many, the most serious vulnerability, because denial-of-service attacks are relatively easy to carry out and often require relatively little technical sophistication.

5.  

Adapted from Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council. 1996. Cryptography's Role in Securing the Information Society, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., Box 1.3.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

Also, it is worth noting that many compromises of security result not from a successful direct attack on a particular security feature intended to guard against one of these vulnerabilities, but instead from the "legitimate" use of designed-in features in ways that were not initially anticipated by the designers of that feature. Thus, defense must be approached on a system level rather than on a piecemeal basis.

Lastly, non-technical vulnerabilities—such as the intentional misuse of privileges by authorized users—must be considered. For example, even perfect access controls and unbreakable encryption will not prevent a trusted insider from revealing the contents of a classified memorandum to unauthorized parties.

The types of attack faced by DOD C4I systems are much broader and potentially much more serious and intense than those usually faced by commercial (non-military) networked information systems. The reason is that attacks on DOD C4I systems that are part of an attack sponsored or instigated by a foreign government can draw upon virtually unlimited resources devoted to those attacks. Furthermore, perpetrators sponsored or supported by a foreign government are largely immune to retaliation or punishment through law enforcement channels, and are thus free to act virtually without constraint.

3.1.2 Security Requirements

Needs for information systems security and trust can be formulated in terms of several major requirements:

  •  Data confidentiality—controlling who gets to read information in order to keep sensitive information from being disclosed to unauthorized recipients, e.g., by preventing the disclosure of classified information to an adversary;
  •  Data integrity—assuring that information and programs are changed, altered, or modified only in a specified and authorized manner, e.g., by preventing an adversary from modifying orders given to combat units so as to shape battlefield events to his advantage;
  •  System availability—assuring that authorized users have continued and timely access to information and resources, e.g., by preventing an adversary from flooding a network with bogus traffic that delays legitimate traffic such as that containing new orders from being transmitted; and
  •  System configuration—assuring that the configuration of a system or a network is changed only in accordance with established security guidelines and only by authorized users, e.g., by detecting and reporting to higher authority the improper installation of a modem that can be used for remote access.
Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

In addition, there is a requirement that cuts across these four, the requirement for accountability—knowing who has had access to information or resources.

It is apparent from this listing that security means more than protecting information from disclosure (e.g., classified information). In the DOD context, much of the information on which military operations depend (e.g., data related to personnel, payroll, logistics, and weather) is not classified. While its disclosure might not harm national security, alteration or a delay in transmitting it certainly could. 6 In other cases, access to unclassified information can present a threat (e.g., access to personnel medical records used to enable blackmail attempts).

Satisfying these security requirements requires a range of security services, including:

  •  Authentication—ascertaining that the identity claimed by a party is indeed the identity of that party. Authentication is generally based on what a party knows (e.g., a password), what a party has (e.g., a hardware computer-readable token), or what a party is (e.g., a fingerprint);
  •  Authorization—granting of permission to a party to perform a given action (or set of actions);
  •  Auditing—recording each operation that is invoked along with the identity of the subject performing it and the object acted upon (as well as later examining these records); and
  •  Non-repudiation—the use of a digital signature procedure affirming both the integrity of a given message and the identity of its creator to protect against a subsequent attempt to deny authenticity.

3.1.3 Role of Cryptography

It is important to understand what role the tool of cryptography plays in information system security, and what aspects of security are not provided by cryptography. Cryptography provides a number of useful capabilities:

  •  Confidentiality—the characteristic that information is protected from disclosure, in transit during communications (so-called link encryp-

6.  

Statements typically issued by DOD in the aftermath of an identified attack on its systems assure Congress and the public that "no classified information was disclosed." These may be technically correct, but they do not address the important questions of whether military capabilities were compromised, or more broadly, if a similar incident would have adverse implications in future, purposeful attack situations.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×
  • tion) and/or when stored in an information system. The security requirement of confidentiality is the one most directly met by cryptography;
  •  Authentication—cryptographically based assurance that an asserted identity is valid for a given person or computer system;
  •  Integrity check—cryptographically based assurance that a message or file has not been tampered with or altered; and
  •  Digital signature—assurance that a message or file was sent or created by a given person, based on the capabilities provided by mechanisms for authentication and integrity checks.

Cryptographic devices are important, for they can protect information in transit against unauthorized disclosure, but this is only a piece of the information systems security problem. The DOD mission also requires that information be protected while in storage and while being processed, and that the information be protected not only against unauthorized disclosure, but also against unauthorized modification and against attacks that seek to deny authorized users timely access to the information.

Cryptography is a valuable tool for authentication as well as for verifying the integrity of information or programs.7 Cryptography alone does not provide availability (though because its use is fundamental to many information security measures, its widespread application can contribute to greater assurance of availability8). Nor does cryptography directly provide auditing services, though it can serve a useful role in authenticating the users whose actions are logged and in verifying the integrity of audit records.

Cryptography does not address vulnerabilities due to faults in a system, including configuration bugs and bugs in cryptographic programs. It does not address the many vulnerabilities in operating systems and applications.9 It certainly does not provide a solution to such problems as

7.  

Cryptography can be used to generate digital signatures of messages, enabling the recipient of a message to assure himself that the message has not been altered (i.e., an after-the fact check of message integrity that does not protect against modification itself). However, in the larger view, a properly encrypted communications channel is difficult to compromise in the first place, and in that sense cryptography can also help to prevent (rather than just to detect) improper modifications of messages.

8.  

Widespread use of encryption (vs. cryptography) can also result in reduced availability, as it hinders existing fault isolation and monitoring techniques. It is for this reason that today's network managers are often not enthusiastic about deployment of encryption.

9.  

Recent analysis of advisories issued by the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University indicates that 85 percent of them would not have been solved by encryption. See Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council. 1999. Trust in Cyberspace, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

poor management and operational procedures or dishonest or suborned personnel.

In summary, cryptography may well be a necessary component of these latter protections, but cryptography alone is not sufficient.10

3.2 Major Challenges To Information Systems Security

3.2.1 The Asymmetry Between Defense and Offense

Information systems security is fundamentally a defensive function, and as such suffers from an inherent asymmetry between cyber-attack and cyber-defense. Because cyber-attack can be conducted at the discretion of the attacker, while the defender must always be on guard, cyber-attack is often cheaper than defense, a point illustrated by the modest resources used by hackers to break into many unclassified DOD systems. Furthermore, for the defender to be realistically confident that his systems are secure, he must devote an enormous amount of effort to eliminate all security flaws that an attacker might exploit, while the attacker simply needs to find one overlooked flaw. Finally, defensive measures must be developed and deployed, a process that takes time, while attackers generally exploit existing security holes. In short, a successful defender must be successful against all attacks, regardless of where the attack occurs, the modality of the attack, or the time of the attack. A successful attacker has only to succeed in one place at one time with one technique. It is this asymmetry that underlies the threat-countermeasure cycle. A countermeasure is developed and deployed against a known threat, which prompts the would-be attacker to develop another threat. As a result, the advantage is heavily to the attacker until most potential vulnerabilities have been addressed (i.e., after many iterations of the cycle).11

3.2.2 Networked Systems

The utility of an information or C4I system generally increases as the number of other systems to which it is connected increases. On the other

10.  

It is worth noting that cryptography is often the source of failures of C4I systems to interoperate. That is, two C4I systems often fail to exchange data operating in secure encrypted mode.

11.  

This asymmetry is discussed in Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council. 1990. Computers at Risk: Safe Computing in the Information Age, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

hand, increasing the number of connections of a system to other systems also increases its vulnerability to attacks routed through those connections.

The use of the Internet to connect C4I systems poses special vulnerabilities. It is desirable to use the Internet because the Internet provides lower information transport costs compared to the public switched telephone network or dedicated systems. But the Internet provides neither quality-of-service guarantees nor good isolation from potentially hostile parties.

3.2.3 Ease-of-Use Compromises

Compromises arise because information systems security measures ideally make a system impossible to use by someone who is not authorized to use it, whereas considerations of system functionality require that the system be easy to use by authorized users. From the perspective of an authorized user, a system with information systems security features should look like the same system without those features. In other words, security features provide no direct functional benefit to the authorized user. At the same time, measures taken to increase the information security of a system almost always make using that system more difficult or cumbersome. The result in practice is that all too often (from a security standpoint) security features are simply omitted (or not turned on) to preserve the ease-of-use goal.

3.2.4 Perimeter Defense

Today's commercially available operating systems and networks offer only weak defensive mechanisms, and thus the components that make up a system are both vulnerable and hard to protect. One approach to protecting a network is then to allow systems on the network to communicate freely (i.e., without the benefit of security mechanisms protecting each individual network transaction) while allowing connection to the larger world outside the network only through carefully defined and well-protected gateways. The result is an arrangement that is "hard on the outside" against attack but "soft on the inside." Thus, it is today very common to see ''enclaves" hiding from the Internet behind firewalls, but few defensive measures within the enclaves themselves.

A perimeter strategy is less expensive than an approach in which every system on a network is protected (a defense-in-depth strategy) because defensive efforts can be concentrated on just a few nodes (the gateways). But the major risk is that a single success in penetrating the perimeter compromises everything on the inside. Once the perimeter is

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

breached, the attacker need not expend additional effort to increase the number of targets that he may attack. The problem of perimeter defense is made worse by the tendency to let one's guard down within the protection of the firewall (believing that the inside is secure) and thus to not take full advantage of even the (relatively weak) protections afforded by the security built into the network components. The limitations of a perimeter defense are issues that should be redressed by C4I architecture—the paradigm of perimeter defense is an implicit element of today's C4I architecture that needs to be made explicit and changed.

One alternative to perimeter defenses is defense in depth, a strategy that requires an adversary to penetrate multiple independently vulnerable obstacles to have access to all of his targets. The property of "independent vulnerabilities" is key; if the different mechanisms of defense share common-mode vulnerabilities (e.g., all use an operating system with easily exploited vulnerabilities), even multiple mechanisms of defense will be easily compromised. When the mechanisms are independently vulnerable and deployed, the number of accessible targets becomes a strong function of the effort expended by the attacker.

3.2.5 The Use of COTS Components

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For reasons of economy, time to completion, and interoperability, networked information systems, including many DOD C4I systems, are increasingly built out of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. But the use of COTS components, especially COTS software (including operating systems, network management packages, e-mail programs, Web browsers, and word processors, among others), can lead to security problems for a number of reasons:

  •  Increasing functionality and decreasing time to market characterize the COTS software market today—often at the expense of security. The reason is simple—security features and functionality do not usually play a large role in buyer decisions.
  •  The increased functionality of COTS software is generally associated with high complexity and a large number of bugs. The high complexity means that specifications for COTS components are likely to be incomplete and consequently, system architects may be unaware of some of the vulnerabilities in the building-block components.

12.  

The discussion in this section is based largely on Trust in Cyberspace; see Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council. 1999. Trust in Cyberspace, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×
  •  The developers of COTS software rely on customer feedback as a significant, or even primary, quality assurance mechanism, which can lead to uneven quality levels within the different subsystems or functionality in a COTS product. Even worse, security problems in COTS products may not even be known to the customer.
  •  The use of COTS components implies a dependence on the vendor for decisions about the component's evolution and the engineering processes used in its construction (notably regarding security). Similarly, the security mechanisms available in a COTS product, if any are present at all, are dictated by the developers of COTS products. Because COTS software is developed for a range of application domains, its security mechanisms are usually not tailored to the specific needs of any particular application area.
  •  The growing use of COTS components, from a small set of vendors, throughout all segments of the information technology industry suggests a continuing decrease in heterogeneity in the coming years. Thus, the similarity intrinsic in the component systems of a homogeneous collection implies that these systems will share vulnerabilities. A successful attack on one system is then likely to succeed on other systems as well.
  •  COTS components are often bundled together, and some of the components may be insecure. For example, a given operating system may be bundled by the vendor with a particular authentication package. Even if that authentication package is inadequate, the user may be faced with a choice of abandoning the operating system or using inadequate authentication because of the difficulty of replacing that package.

These factors do not argue that COTS components should not be used to develop networked information systems, but rather that such use should be undertaken with care. For example, wise developers learn to avoid the more complex features of COTS software, because these are the most likely to exhibit surprising behavior and such behavior is least likely to remain stable across releases. When these features cannot be avoided, encapsulating components with wrappers, effectively narrowing their interfaces, can protect against some undesirable behaviors.

Still, in an overall sense, the relationship between the use of COTS software and system security is unclear. Research is needed to improve understanding of this relationship, and of how to use COTS components to build secure systems.

3.2.6 Threats Posed by Insiders

Insiders are those authorized to access some part or parts of a network. When security depends on the defenses built into the perimeter,

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

the coercion or subornation of a single individual on the inside leaves the entire network open to attack to the extent that internal protections are lacking. Controlling the privileges of authorized individuals more finely (i.e., enabling such an individual to use some system resources or capabilities but not others) is only a partial solution, because abuse of the enabled resources is possible.

3.2.7 Passive Defense

Legal and technical constraints preclude retaliation against the perpetrator of an information systems attack (a cyber-attack). Thus, the attacker pays no penalty for failed attacks. He or she can therefore continue attacking unpunished until he or she succeeds or quits.

The following example from physical space illustrates the futility of passive defense. Imagine a situation in which truck bombers in a red truck attempt entry to a military base. The bomb is discovered and they are turned away at the front gate of a military base, but allowed to go away in peace to refine their attack. They return later that day with a bomb in a yellow truck, are again turned away, and again go away in peace to refine their attack. They return still later with a stolen military truck. This time the bomb is undetected, they penetrate the defenses, and they succeed in their attack. A base commander taking this approach to security would be justly criticized and held accountable for the penetration.

Yet in cyberspace passive defense is standard operating procedure. For example, an attacker can use an automatic telephone dialer to dial every number on a military post's telephone exchange looking for modem tones. In a phone probe looking for modem tones, all 10,000 phone numbers may be tested. No sane commander would allow a truck bomber 10,000 unchallenged, penalty-free attempts to drive onto a base. But the same commander today is constrained to routinely allow 10,000 unchallenged, penalty-free attempts to find modems attached to base systems.

None of this is to argue that going beyond passive defense is easy or even appropriate. For example, it is often difficult to identify the actual source of a cyber-attack (as opposed to the most immediate node through which that attack is being prosecuted). A cyber-attacker might well use the computer of some legitimate organization to launch an attack, and retaliation against that computer might well damage it. The opportunities for misleading defense mechanisms or defenders, causing them to retaliate against the wrong source, are numerous. Furthermore, in an international context, retaliation against a foreign nation from which an attack is being routed might be regarded as an act of war. For reasons such as these, passive defense in cyberspace represents both the tradition and

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

the standard operating practice. But over the long run, it is a losing proposition, and inadequate for protection of military operations in cyberspace.

3.3 Defensive Functions

Effective information systems security is based on a number of functions described below. This list of functions is not complete; nevertheless, evidence that all these functions are being performed in an effective and coordinated fashion will be evidence that information systems security is being taken seriously and conducted effectively.

Some of these functions were also noted in the military context by the Defense Science Board, and some by the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection in its report.13 These functions are listed here because they are important, and because the committee believes that they have not yet been addressed by the DOD in an effective fashion (as described in the committee's findings below).

Function 1. Collect, analyze, and disseminate strategic intelligence about threats to systems.

Any good defense attempts to learn as much as possible about the threats that it may face, both the tools that an adversary may use and the identity and motivations of likely attackers. In the information systems security world, it is difficult to collect information about attackers (though such intelligence information should be sought). It is, however, much easier to collect and analyze information on technical and procedural vulnerabilities, to characterize both the nature of these vulnerabilities and their frequency at different installations. Dissemination of information about these vulnerabilities enables administrators of the information systems that may be affected to take remedial action.

Function 2. Monitor indications and warnings.

All defenses—physical and cyber—rely to some extent on indications and warning of impending attack. The reason is that if it is known that attack is impending, the defense can take actions to reduce its vulnerability and to increase the effectiveness of its response. This function calls for:

13.  

See the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. 1997. Critical Foundations: Protecting America's Infrastructures, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Also, the Defense Science Board. 1996. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Information Warfare-Defense (IW-D), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×
  •  Monitoring of threat indicators. For example, near-simultaneous penetration attempts on hundreds of military information systems might reasonably be considered an indication of an orchestrated attack. Mobilization of a foreign nation's key personnel known to have responsibility for information attacks might be another indicator. The notion of an "information condition" or INFOCON, analogous to the defense condition (DEFCON) indicator, would be a useful summary device to indicate to commanders the state of the cyber-threat at any given time (Box 3.3). This concept is being developed by various DOD elements but is yet immature.
  •  Assessment and characterization of the information attack (if any) . Knowledge of the techniques used in an attack on one information system may facilitate a judgment of the seriousness of the attack. For example, an attack that involves techniques that are not widely known may indicate that the perpetrators have a high degree of technical sophistication.14
  •  Dissemination of information about the target(s) of threat. Knowledge of the techniques used in an attack on one information system may enable administrators responsible for other systems to take preventive actions tailored to that type of attack. This is true even if the first attack is unsuccessful, because security features that may have thwarted the first attack may not necessarily be installed or operational on other systems.

Note that dissemination of information about attacks and their targets is required on two distinct time scales. The first time scale is seconds or minutes after the attack is known; such knowledge enables operators of other systems not (yet) under attack to take immediate preventive action (such as severing some network connections). In this instance, alternative means of secure communication may be necessary to disseminate

14.  

Detection of cyber-attacks can be broadly classified into two categories. The first is known as penetration detection, which is usually based on descriptions of these attacks (if such and such conditions are observed, the system is or has come under attack) or on models that abstract characteristics of a known attack (and can thus detect some different variants—some that were previously unknown—of a known penetration). The second is known as anomaly detection, and is based on the detection of events that are not "normal," i.e., not usual in the context of the monitored system. Anomaly detection tends to generate many false positives (because an anomalous event may in fact reflect something that a legitimate user has never done before rather than the sign of a hostile attack), but it is the only known approach to detecting attacks that were previously unknown. Finally, detection of coordinated penetration attempts on a network is necessary (but not sufficient) to characterize a large-scale attack (i.e., one mounted to challenge the United States as a national entity). Comprehensive attack detection is based on security components that deal with all of these dimensions of an attack, interacting with each other to provide the necessary detection components.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

BOX 3.3 Information Conditions

One implementation of information conditions (INFOCONs) is defined by the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM). Beginning with the Defense Science Board report of 1996 identifying a need for structured response to attacks on the nation's information infrastructure,1 the Information Assurance Division of STRATCOM drafted operating instructions that became the INFOCON program. INFOCONs "provide a set of pre-established measures to assess threats against STRATCOM's information systems and define graduated actions to be taken in response to those threats." On a day-to-day basis, the INFOCON is set at "normal," and only routine security measures are taken. If increased hostile actions are detected, INFOCONs are increased to raise information assurance awareness, with higher INFOCONs representing more intense hostile activity and more rigorous response actions.

INFOCONs are roughly analogous to defense condition (DEFCON) and terrorist condition (THREATCON) levels. The decision to change the INFOCON is based on the assessed threat, the capability to implement the required protective measures, and the overall impact the action will have on STRATCOM's capability to perform its mission. INFOCONs define appropriate information operations measures to be taken. Each INFOCON is designed to produce detection, assessment, and response measures commensurate with the existing threat. Escalating INFOCONs enhance information operations capabilities and send a clear signal of increased readiness. Different INFOCONs are not necessarily linear in nature as an organized malicious information attack could immediately require higher INFOCONs to be set and appropriate measures taken.

INFOCON procedures received their first full-scale workout during STRATCOM's annual readiness exercise Global Guardian 98. STRATCOM officials believe that exercise results demonstrated the ability of INFOCONs to raise security awareness and to counter hostile actions. For example, based on independent monitoring of communications during Global Guardian, STRATCOM officials believe that improved operations security practices were demonstrated as compared to previous exercises—an improvement attributed in part to the new INFOCONs.

SOURCE: Adapted from Charles A. Keene, U.S. Strategic Command, "INFOCONs Increase Focus on Information Security," and (no author) "USSTRATCOM Information Operations Conditions," intercom on-line, January 1998, Vol. 4, No. 1; available online at <http://www.afca.scott.af.mil/pa/public/98jan/intercom.htm>.

1.  

Defense Science Board. 1996. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Information Warfare-Defense (IW-D), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

such information. The second time scale is days after the attack is understood; such knowledge allows operators throughout the entire system of systems to implement fixes and patches that they may not yet have fixed, and to request fixes that are needed but not yet developed.

A DOD example of monitoring is the Air Force Information Warfare Center element that monitors and responds to penetrations at Air Force installations worldwide from San Antonio, Texas.

Function 3. Be able to identify intruders.

Electronic intruders into a system are admittedly hard to identify. Attacks are conducted remotely, and a chain of linkages from the attacker's system to an intermediate node to another and another to the attacked system can easily obscure the identity of the intruder. Nevertheless, certain types of information—if collected—may shed some light on the intruder's identity. For example, some attackers may preferentially use certain tools or techniques (e.g., the same dictionary to test for passwords), or use certain sites to gain access. Attacks that go on over an extended period of time may provide further opportunities to trace the origin of the attack.

Function 4. Test for security weaknesses in fielded and operational systems.

An essential part of a security program is searching for technical and operational or procedural vulnerabilities. Ongoing tests (conducted by groups often known as "red teams" or "tiger teams") are essential for several reasons:

  •  Recognized vulnerabilities are not always corrected, and known fixes are frequently found not to have been applied as a result of poor configuration management.
  •  Security features are often turned off in an effort to improve operational efficiency. Such actions may improve operational efficiency, but at the potentially high cost of compromising security, sometimes with the primary damage occurring in some distant part of the system.
  •  Some security measures rely on procedural measures and thus depend on proper training and ongoing vigilance on the part of commanders and system managers.
  •  Security flaws that are not apparent to the defender undergoing an inspection may be uncovered by a committed attacker (as they would be uncovered in an actual attack).

Thus, it is essential to use available tools and conduct red team or tiger team probes often and without warning to test security defenses. In

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

order to maximize the impact of these tests, reports should be disseminated widely. Release of such information may risk embarrassment of certain parties or possible release of information that can be used by adversaries to attack, but especially in the case of vulnerabilities uncovered for which fixes are available, the benefits of releasing such information—allowing others to learn from it and motivating fixes to be installed—outweigh these costs.15

Tiger team attacks launched without the knowledge of the attacked systems also allow estimates to be made of the frequency of attacks. Specifically, the fraction of tiger team attacks that are detected is a reasonable estimate of the fraction of adversary attacks that are made. Thus, the frequency of adversary attacks can be estimated from the number of adversary attacks that are detected.

Function 5. Plan a range of responses.

Any organization relying on information systems should have a number of routine information systems security activities (e.g., security features that are turned on, security procedures that are followed). But when attack is imminent (or in process), an organization could prudently adopt additional security measures that during times of non-attack might not be in effect because of their negative impact on operations. Tailoring in advance a range of information systems security actions to be taken under different threat conditions would help an organization plan its response to any given attack.

For example, a common response under attack is to drop non-essential functions from a system connected to the network so as to reduce the number of routes for penetration. A determination in advance of what functions count as non-essential and under what circumstances such a determination is valid would help facilitate an orderly transition to different threat conditions, and would be much better than an approach that calls for dropping all functionality and restoring only those functions that people using the system at the time complain about losing. Note that such determinations can be made only from an operational perspective rather than a technical one, a fact that points to the essential need for an operational architecture in the design of C4I systems.

The principle underlying response planning should be that of "graceful degradation"; that is, the system or network should lose functionality

15.  

Furthermore, actions can be taken to minimize the possibility that adversaries might be able to obtain such information. For example, passing the information to the tested installation using non-electronic means would eliminate the possibility that an adversary monitoring electronic channels could obtain it.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

gradually, as a function of the severity of the attack compared to its ability to defend against it.16 This principle stands in contrast to a different principle that might call for the maintenance of all functionality until the attack simply overwhelms the defense and the system or network collapses. The latter principle is tempting because reductions in functionality necessitated for security reasons may interfere with operational ease of use, but its adoption risks catastrophic failure.

It is particularly important to note that designing a system for graceful degradation depends on system architects who take into account the needs of security (and more generally, the needs of coping with possible component failures) from the start. For example, the principle of graceful degradation would forbid a system whose continued operation depended entirely on a single component remaining functional, or on the absence of a security threat.

This principle is often violated in the development of prototypes. It is often said that "it is necessary for one to crawl before one can run," i.e., that it is acceptable to ignore security or reliability considerations when one is attempting to demonstrate the feasibility of a particular concept. This argument is superficially plausible, but in practice it does not hold water. It is reasonable for a prototype to focus only on concept feasibility, ignoring considerations of reliability or security, only if the prototype will be thrown away and a new architecture is designed and developed from scratch to implement the concept. Budget and schedule constraints usually prevent such new beginnings, and so in practice the prototype's architecture is never abandoned, and security or reliability considerations must be addressed in the face of an architecture that was never designed or intended to support them.

Function 6. Coordinate defensive activities throughout the enterprise.

Any large, distributed organization has many information systems and subnetworks that must be defended. The activities taken to defend each of these systems and networks must be coordinated because the distributed parts have interconnections and the security of the whole organization depends on the weakest link. Furthermore, it is important for dif-

16.  

Of course, graceful degradation assumes an ability to detect an attack and make adjustments to system operation and configuration in near-real time. It is possible that in preparation for an attack, a clever opponent will be able to plant initially undetected "Trojan horses" that can be activated when the attack begins in earnest, or other programs that can operate covertly, making it hard for the defender to respond to an attack that is ongoing. This fact does not negate the utility of the design philosophy, but it does point out that graceful degradation cannot solve all security problems.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

ferent parts of organizations to be able to learn from each other about vulnerabilities, threats, and effective countermeasures.

Function 7. Ensure the adequacy, availability, and functioning of public infrastructure used in systems (a step that will require cooperation with commercial providers and civilian authorities).

Few networks are built entirely using systems controlled by the organization that relies on them. Therefore organizations (including DOD) are required to work cooperatively with the owners of the infrastructure they rely on and relevant authorities to protect them.

Function 8. Include security requirements in any specification of system or network requirements that is used in the acquisition process.

Providing information systems security for a network or system that has not had security features built into it is enormously problematic. Retrofits of security features into systems not designed for security invariably leave security holes, and procedural fixes for inherent technical vulnerabilities only go so far.

Perhaps more importantly, security requirements must be given prominence from the beginning in any system conceptualization. The reason is that security considerations may affect the design of a system in quite fundamental ways, and a designer who decides on a design that works against security should at least be cognizant of the implications of such a choice. This function thus calls for information systems security expertise to be integrally represented on design teams, rather than added later.

Note that specification of the ''Orange Book" security criteria17 would be an insufficient response to this function. "Orange Book" criteria typically drive up development times significantly, and more importantly, are not inherently part of an initial requirements process and do not address the security of networked or distributed systems.

Function 9. Monitor, assess, and understand offensive and defensive information technologies.

Good information systems security requires an understanding of the types of threats and defenses that might be relevant. Thus, those responsible for information systems security need a vigorous ongoing program

17.  

Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (the Orange Book). December 1985. DOD 5200.28-std; supersedes CSC-STD-001-83, dated August 15, 1983.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

to monitor, assess, and understand offensive and defensive information technologies. Such a program would address the technical details of these technologies, their capability to threaten or protect friendly systems, and their availability.

Function 10. Advance the state of the art in defensive information technology (and processes) with research.

Although much can usually be done to improve information systems security simply through the use of known and available technologies, "bug fixes," and procedures, better tools to support the information systems security mission are always needed. In general, such improvements fall into two classes (which may overlap). One class consists of improvements so that tools can deal more effectively with a broader threat spectrum. A second class, equally important, provides tools that provide better automation and thus can solve problems at lower costs (costs that include direct outlays for personnel and equipment and operational burdens resulting from the hassle imposed by providing security).

Similar considerations apply to processes for security as well. It is reasonable to conduct organizational research into better processes and organizations that provide more effective support against information attacks and/or reduce the impediments to using or implementing good security practices.

Function 11. Promote information systems security awareness.

Just as it is dangerous to rely on a defensive system or network architecture that is hard on the outside and soft on the inside, it is also dangerous if any member of an organization fails to take information systems security seriously. Because the carelessness of a single individual can seriously compromise the security of an entire organization, education and training for information systems security must be required for all members of the organization. Moreover, such education and training must be systematic, regarded as important by the organization (and demonstrated with proper support for such education and training), and undertaken on a regular basis (both to remind people of its importance and to update their knowledge in light of new developments in the area).

Function 12. Set security standards (both technical and procedural).

Security standards should articulate in well-defined and actionable terms what an organization expects to do in the area of security. They are therefore prescriptive. For example, a technical standard might be "all

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

passwords must be eight or more characters long, contain both letters and numbers, be pronounceable, and not be contained in any dictionary," or "all electronic communications containing classified information must be encrypted with a certain algorithm and key length." A standard involving both technical and procedural measures might specify how to revoke cryptographic keys known to have been compromised. Furthermore, security standards should be expected to apply to all those within the organization. (For example, generals should not be allowed to exercise poorer information systems security discipline than do captains, as they might be tempted to do in order to make their use of C4I systems easier.)

Function 13. Develop and use criteria for assessing security status.

Information security is not a one-shot problem, but a continuing one. Threats, technology, and organizations are constantly changing in a spiral of measures and countermeasures. Organizations must have ways of measuring and evaluating whether they have effective defensive measures in place. Thus, once standards are put in place, the organization must periodically assess the extent to which members of the organization comply with those standards, and characterize the nature of the compliance that does exist.

Metrics for security could include number of attacks of different types, fraction of attacks detected, fraction of attacks repelled, damage incurred, and time needed to detect and respond to attacks. Note that making measurements on such parameters depends on understanding the attacks that do occur—because many attacks are not detected today, continual penetration testing is required to establish such a baseline.

One example of such monitoring is the efforts the National Security Agency (NSA) makes to ensure that cryptographic devices are being used. NSA can detect if any U.S. military communicators shut off cryptographic communications security (COMSEC) devices, and provides appropriate feedback to the relevant commands.

3.4 Responsibility For Information Systems Security in DOD

The responsibility for information systems security within the Department of Defense is distributed through the entire organization, including both civilian and military components. The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) is the principal staff assistant to the Secretary of Defense for C3I and information management and information warfare matters and is the Chief Information Officer for the DOD. Other Office of the Secretary of Defense

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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components with some connection to information systems security include the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and DOD's federally funded research and development centers, such as MITRE, the Institute for Defense Analyses, and RAND. Each of the military services and the combatant commands have one or more activities focusing on information systems security, as does the Joint Staff.

Organizations of particular relevance to the DOD-wide issues related to information systems security include the following:

  •  The Defense-wide Information Assurance Program, which was established in January 1998 to provide a "common framework and central oversight necessary to ensure the protection and reliability of the [Defense Information Infrastructure]."18 The program's goal is to change the way DOD and its various agents look at information assurance, from a technical issue to an operational readiness issue. It will look at new tools (e.g., better systems) and techniques (e.g., vulnerability assessments, red team testing) to monitor and deter attacks on defense information systems.
  •  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which undertakes a large part of the DOD effort in basic R&D for information security. DARPA's efforts, located in its Information Technology Office (Information Survivability) and in the Information Systems Office (Information Assurance), are coordinated with NSA and DISA through a memorandum of understanding. The mission of the Information Assurance Program is to "develop security and survivability solutions for the Next Generation Information Infrastructure that will reduce vulnerability and allow increased interoperability and functionality."19 The program's objectives include architecture and infrastructure issues, preventing, deterring, and responding to attacks, and managing security systems. Its goal is to "create the security foundation" for the Defense Information Infrastructure and future military C4I information systems.
  •  The National Security Agency (NSA), which develops cryptographic and other information systems security techniques to protect sensitive (classified and unclassified) U.S. communications and computer systems associated with national security.20 For many years, the NSA produced link encryptors that were used to protect data during communications.

18.  

Remarks made by the Deputy Secretary of Defense, John J. Hamre, in his "Statement Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Information Systems: Y2K & Frequency Spectrum Reallocation," June 4, 1998.

19.  

See the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Information Assurance home page online at <http://web-ext2.darpa.mil/iso/ia/>.

20.  

See the NSA's INFOSEC page online at <http://www.nsa.gov:8080/isso/>.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×
  • As the boundary between communications and computing has blurred, however, the NSA has broadened its mission to include information security rather than simply the more narrow communications security. Today, information protection activities are found within the Information Systems Security Organization, and this component of NSA houses considerable information security expertise.
  •  The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which serves as the manager for the Defense Information Infrastructure. In this role, DISA helps to "protect against, detect and react to threats to" the Defense Information Infrastructure and DOD information sources.21 The INFOSEC Program Management Office coordinates all information security activities for DISA by providing technical and product support as well as INFOSEC education throughout the DOD. In addition, DISA's chief information officers' Information Assurance Division focuses on the implementation of information assurance by developing effective security policy and processes and establishing training and awareness program.22 DISA also hosts the Joint Task Force on Computer Network Defense (Box 3.4), which is intended to work in conjunction with the unified military commands, the military services, and other Department of Defense agencies to defend DOD networks and systems against intrusions and other attacks.
  •  The joint Command and Control Warfare Center, which is charged with providing direct tactical and technical analytical support for command and control warfare to operational commanders. The Joint Command and Control Warfare Center supports the integration of operations security, psychological operations, military deception, and electronic warfare and destruction throughout the planning and execution phases of operations. Direct support is provided to unified commands, joint task forces, functional and service components, and subordinate combat commanders. Support is also provided to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the services, and other government agencies. The Joint Command and Control Warfare Center maintains specialized expertise in command and control warfare systems engineering, operational applications, capabilities, and vulnerabilities.

3.5 The Information Systems Security Threat

Reliable estimates of national-level threats to DOD C4I systems are hard to obtain, even in the classified literature. Unlike more traditional

21.  

For further information, see the Defense Information Systems Agency home page online at <http://www.disa.mil>.

22.  

For additional information, see the Defense Information Systems Agency INFOSEC Program Management Office home page online at <http://www.disa.mil/infosec/index.html>.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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BOX 3.4 The Joint Task Force on Computer Network Defense

The mission of the Joint Task Force on Computer Network Defense (JTF-CND) is to coordinate and direct the defense of DOD computer networks and systems. Thus, it serves as the focal point within the Department of Defense for organizing a united effort to defend DOD computer networks and systems. The JTF-CND mission includes the coordination of DOD defensive actions with non-DOD government agencies and appropriate private organizations. The JTF-CND directly supports critical infrastructure protection as discussed in Presidential Decision Directive 63 and in the Joint Vision 2010 notion of full spectrum dominance. The specific functions to be provided by the JTF-CND are as follows:

  •  Determine when system(s) are under strategic computer network attack, assess the impact on military operations and capabilities, and notify National Command Authorities and the user community.
  •  Coordinate and direct appropriate DOD actions to stop computer network attack, contain damage, restore functionality, and provide feedback to user community
  •  Develop contingency plans, tactics, techniques, and procedures to defend DOD computer networks; support deliberate planning in the unified and specified commands for the same.
  •  Assess the effectiveness of defensive actions, and maintain a current assessment of operational impact on DOD.
  •  Coordinate as required with national communications systems, the National Infrastructure Protection Center, DOD law enforcement agencies, DOD counterintelligence organizations, civilian law enforcement, other interagency partners, the private sector, and allies.
  •  Monitor the status of DOD computer networks.
  •  Monitor Computer Emergency Response Team alerts, warnings, and advisories, and provide input to and monitor indications and warnings (I&W) reporting.
  •  Participate in joint training exercises to conduct computer network defense.
  •  Coordinate with Defense-wide Information Assurance Program (DIAP) and Critical Asset Assurance Program(CAAP) authorities to ensure JTF-CND compliance with wider information assurance policy and initiatives.
  •  Provide the intelligence community with priority intelligence requirements for collection and I&W requirements for potential attacks against DOD computers and networks.
  •  Subject to authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of Defense, provide information to and receive direction from the Chairman of
Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×
  • the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and provide liaison as required to the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At present, the commander of the JTF-CND is also the vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency. The JTF-CND is co-located with and hosted by DISA in order to take advantage of the existing operational computer network capabilities of DISA's Global Operations and Security Center, the military services, and DOD agencies. Initial operational capability was scheduled for December 31, 1998. Full operational capability will be achieved when the JTF-CND is able to accomplish all baseline functions around the clock; DOD plans to achieve full operational capability approximately 180 days following initial operational capability.

SOURCES: MITRE Corporation and DOD News Release No. 658-98, "Joint Task Force on Computer Network Defense Now Operational," December 30, 1998.

threats (where vehicles and weapons platforms could be counted and exercises observed), the information security threat requires comparatively little capital and resources that are easily concealed, as well as expertise with both civilian and military applications, and so it is difficult to estimate. Thus, threat estimates in this domain are necessarily more dependent on human judgment, with all of the subjectivity and uncertainty thereby implied.

Essentially all nations with hostile intent toward the United States have the financial resources and the technological capability to threaten U.S. C4I systems. Because the costs of equipment to threaten U.S. C4I systems are small and the knowledge is available worldwide, non-state groups (e.g., terrorist groups or domestic hackers) can also pose a threat.

For these reasons, prudent planning dictates a serious DOD response to such potential threats, even if they have not yet been part of a concerted national attack on the United States.

3.6 Technical Assessment Of C4I System Security

The available evidence from exercises that the committee observed (e.g., Blue Flag 98-2) or received briefings on (e.g., Eligible Receiver) show that security at all levels, from the national down to the platform-level command, in today's fielded systems is insufficient. The security in today's fielded military systems is weak, and weaker than it need be, as illustrated by the following examples of behavior and practices that the committee observed or heard:

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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  •  Individual nodes are running commercial software with many known security problems. Operators use little in the way of tools for finding these problems, to say nothing of fixing them.
  •  Computers attached to sensitive command and control systems are also used by personnel to surf Web sites worldwide, raising the possibility that rogue applets and the like could be introduced into the system. 23
  •  Units are being blinded by denial-of-service attacks, made possible because individual nodes were running commercial software with many known security problems.
  •  IP addresses and other important data about C2 systems can be found on POST-IT notes attached to computers in unsecured areas, making denial of service and other attacks much easier.
  •  Some of the networks used by DOD to carry classified information are protected by a perimeter defense. As a result, they exhibit all of the vulnerabilities that characterize networks protected by perimeter defenses.24

3.7 Findings

Finding S-1: Protection of DOD's information and information systems is a pressing national security issue.

DOD is in an increasingly compromised position. The rate at which information systems are being relied on outstrips the rate at which they are being protected. Also, the time needed to develop and deploy effective defenses in cyberspace is much longer than the time required to develop and mount an attack. The result is vulnerability: a gap between exposure and defense on the one hand and attack on the other. This gap is growing wider over time, and it leaves DOD a likely target for disruption or pin-down via information attack.

Finding S-2: The DOD response to the information systems security challenge has been inadequate.

As noted in section 3.6, the committee observed in its field visits a variety of inadequate responses to the security problem. Within the DOD, the National Security Agency is the primary repository of expertise with

23.  

An "applet" is an application supplied by a host Web site that can be run locally. Thus, connecting to a Web site supplying a rogue applet can result in the running of a hostile program on the system viewing that Web page.

24.  

1t is ironic that the use of a perimeter defense for a C4I network is inconsistent with the more stringent rules for protecting classified data in physical environments. For example, the storage of classified documents requires a safe in a room that is fitted with an alarm.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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respect to information systems security, and this repository is arguably the largest and best in the world. Nevertheless, DOD has been unable to translate this expertise into adequate information assurance defenses except in limited areas (primarily the supply of cryptographic devices). For example, the committee observed in one exercise NSA personnel working in intelligence roles and in support of an information warfare attack cell. The information warfare defensive cell, however, did not use NSA-supplied tools and was not directly supported by NSA personnel.

Many field commanders told the committee that "cyberspace is part of the battlespace," and several organizations within the DOD assert that they are training "C2/cyber warriors." But good intentions have not been matched by serious attention to cyberspace protection. Soldiers in the field do not take the protection of their C4I systems nearly as seriously as they do other aspects of defense. For example, information attack red teams were a part of some exercises observed by the committee, but their efforts were usually highly constrained for fear that unconstrained efforts would bring the exercise to a complete halt. While all red teams operate under certain rules of engagement established by the "white teams'' that oversee exercises, the information attack red teams appeared to the committee to be much more constrained than was appropriate. In one exercise, personnel in an operations center laughed and mistakenly took as a joke a graphic demonstration by the red team that their operations center systems had been penetrated.

One particularly problematic aspect of the DOD response to information systems security is its reliance on passive defense. As noted above, passive defense does not impose a meaningful penalty against an opponent, and thus the opponent is free to probe until he or she finds a weak spot in the defense. This reliance on passive defense is not a criticism of DOD; rather, it is an unavoidable consequence of a high-level policy decision made by the U.S. government that retaliation against cyber-attackers is not to be controlled or initiated by DOD; nevertheless, the committee is compelled to point out that this policy decision has a distinctly negative consequence for the security of DOD C4I systems.

On the technology side, the development of appropriate information systems security tools has suffered from a mind-set that fails to recognize that C4I systems are today heavily dependent on commercial components that often do not provide high levels of security. It may be true that the most secure systems are those that are built from scratch with attention from the start paid to security; in essence, this is the philosophy on which DOD's Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria are based.25 But in prac-

25.  

Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (the Orange Book). December 1985. DOD 5200.28-std; supersedes CSC-STD-001-83, dated August 15, 1983.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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tice, system builders must obtain security from whatever is provided by COTS products, security that is admittedly inadequate against the best efforts of world-class adversaries but that would improve security against less sophisticated threats. Because the National Security Agency has focused its efforts to date on the "build from scratch" philosophy, real-world military C4I systems built on commercial components have very little effective security and low assurance that they will work under real-world attacks by sophisticated opponents.

DOD efforts in information systems security have also focused a great deal of attention on high-assurance multilevel security. Multilevel security mechanisms seek to prevent a hostile piece of software from leaking high-level (e.g., secret) information to low-level (e.g., uncleared) users. While hostile "Trojan horse" software is certainly a real and important threat, it is far from the most serious problem facing command and control systems today. For example, denial-of-service attacks represent a serious threat, not least because such attacks may be the easiest to conduct. Moreover, the U.S. computer industry has not found sufficient demand, either from the DOD or elsewhere, for multilevel security-qualified systems.26 Multilevel security may still be needed for certain specialized C4I applications, but from the standpoint of meeting the broad demands for security it has not proven to be a commercially viable approach.

By contrast, the commercial sector has taken a largely pragmatic approach to the problem of information systems security. The C4I security practices that the committee observed in many of its site visits were far inferior to the standard set by the best commercial practices for information systems security (e.g., those found in the banking industry) or the best practices in DOD. Given the importance of DOD C4I systems to the national security and the sensitivity of the information handled in those systems, the committee would have expected DOD C4I security practices, in general, to reach a higher standard than was found. Also, the committee observed a number of instances in which the adoption of existing good

26.  

At one time, the U.S. computer industry was preparing at its own expense high-assurance multilevel security systems for use by DOD. These systems failed to make the transition from development project to commercial product. Perhaps the best example of such a system is Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX Virtual Machine Monitor security kernel. This project was canceled, apparently for commercial reasons, in 1991. (See Paul A. Karger, Mary Ellen Zurko, Douglas W. Bonin, Andrew H. Mason, Clifford E. Kahn. 1991. "A Retrospective on the VAX VMM Security Kernel," IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 17(11): 1147-1165.) The committee is aware of no similar systems on the horizon today. One major reason for the lack of demand for such systems is that the time to market of multilevel security-qualified systems is so long that the functional capabilities of these systems have been superseded many times over by other non-multilevel security systems by the time they are available.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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technologies and practices would greatly improve information systems security. Because these best practices have not been adopted for military use, the protection of C4I cyberspace is worse than it need be, and there is a large gap between the security that is reasonably possible today and the security that is actually in place.

An analogy that illustrates a more pragmatic approach is to view the threat as a pyramid. A large percentage of the low-level threats at the base of the pyramid can be handled with readily available tools. This keeps the "ankle biters" out. The apex of the pyramid represents that small percentage of "professionals" with largely unlimited resources that, given time, will be able to penetrate any defense. The middle levels, then, are the ones that benefit most from concentrated system design work.

3.8 Recommendations

The committee believes that information systems security—especially in its operational dimensions—has received far less attention and focus than the subject deserves in light of a growing U.S. military dependence on information dominance as a pillar of its warfighting capabilities.

At the highest level of abstraction, the committee believes that DOD must greatly improve the execution of its information systems security responsibilities. The same military diligence and wisdom that the U.S. military uses to defend physical space can and must be applied to defend the cyberspace in which C4I systems operate. For example, the principle of defense in depth is a time-honored one, whose violation has often led to military disaster (e.g., the Maginot line).

This is easier said than done. The defense of physical spaces and facilities has a long history, while cyberspace is a new area of military operations. In cyberspace, boundaries are fluid, control is distributed and diffuse, and most of what occurs is invisible to the defender's five senses without appropriate augmentation. As a result, analogies between physical space and cyberspace cannot be perfect, and may even be misleading. Nevertheless, a goal of achieving "cyber-security" for C4I systems comparable to what can be achieved with physical security for physical facilities and spaces is a reasonable one that the DOD should strive to meet.

One critical aspect of improving information systems security is changing the DOD culture, especially within the uniformed military, to promote an information systems security culture. Organizational policies and practices are at least as important as technical mechanisms in providing information systems security. Policies specify the formal structures, ensure responsibility and accountability, establish procedures for deploying and using technical means of protection and assigning access privileges, create sanctions for breaches of security at any level of the organiza-

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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tion, and require training in the privacy and security practices of an organization. Thus, the organizational issues relating to how to ensure the appropriate use of information systems security technologies are critical.

The culture of any organization establishes the degree to which members of that organization take their security responsibilities seriously. With a culture that values the taking of the offensive in military operations, the military may well have difficulty in realizing that defense against information attack is a more critical function than being able to conduct similar operations against an adversary, and indeed is more difficult and requires greater skill and experience than offensive information operations.

For example, the committee observed the 609th Information Warfare Squadron in action during the Blue Flag 98 exercise. The 609th Squadron had split responsibilities: it was responsible for both red team (attacking) and blue team (defending) information activities. The defensive cell performed its duties admirably, yet was overwhelmed by its red team counterpart. (For example, the red team was able to download the air tasking order before it was transmitted.) In asking about the composition of the two teams, committee members were told that blue team defensive duty and experience were a prerequisite for participation on the red team.27

The notion that less experienced personnel first perform the defensive function and more experienced ones perform the offensive function is counter to normal practice in other settings. For example, the National Security Agency requires code-breaking experience before an analyst can begin to develop encryption algorithms. In general, the rule of good practice in information systems security is that the most experienced people serve the vital protection function.

In all instances of which the committee is aware, large organizations that take information systems security seriously have leadership that emphasizes its importance. Top-level commitment is not sufficient for good security practices to be put into place, but without it, organizations will drift to do other things that appear more directly related to their core missions. Thus, senior DOD leadership must take the lead to promote information systems security as an important cultural value for DOD.

27.  

It can be argued that it is desirable to train against the most experienced adversaries. Indeed, experience at the National Training Center in which units in training are routinely overwhelmed by an experienced and superbly trained opposing force is based on this point. But for operational purposes, the commander must decide where to deploy his best personnel—and the committee believes cyber-defense warrants the very best. Because units fight as they train, the committee believes that the most experienced personnel should be involved as defenders in exercises, too. (An additional point is that the red-team threat so far overmatched the defense that red-team sophistication was never required.)

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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Senior leadership is responsible for two tasks: the articulation of policy for the department as a whole, and oversight to ensure that policy is being properly implemented.

In this regard, the committee was encouraged by conversations with senior defense officials, both civilian and military, who appear to take information systems security quite seriously. Nevertheless, these officials have a limited tenure, and the issue of high-level attention is a continuing one.

A second obstacle to the promulgation of an information systems security culture is that good security from an operational perspective often conflicts with doing and getting things done. And because good information systems security results in nothing (bad) happening, it is easy to see how the can-do culture of DOD might tend to devalue it.

Finally, it is important to note that DOD must protect both classified and unclassified information. While DOD has a clear legislative mandate to protect both types of information, DOD treats the protection of classified information much more seriously than the protection of unclassified information.

The first step is to take action now. Exercises such as Eligible Receiver have served as a "wake-up" call for many senior DOD leaders, both civilian and military. The perception at the highest levels of leadership that the information systems security problem is big, urgent, and real must translate quickly into actions that can be observed in the field.

One way of characterizing the committee's recommendations is that the DOD should adopt as quickly as is possible best commercial practices, which are in general far in advance of what the committee observed with fielded C4I systems. It is essential that security requirements be considered from the very beginning of each program and not postponed until later, which inevitably causes either major cost increases or the requirements to be diluted or eliminated. As a next goal DOD must then attempt to advance the state of the art in each of these areas.

Finally, in an organization as large as DOD, recommendations must refer to concrete actions and to specific action offices responsible for their execution. On the other hand, given an ongoing restructuring and streamlining within DOD, especially within the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the committee is reluctant to specify action offices with too much confidence or precision. Thus, its recommendations are cast in terms of what the committee believes should be done, rather than specifying an action office. The argumentation for each recommendation contains, where appropriate, a paragraph regarding a possible action office or offices for that recommendation, representing the committee's best judgment in that area. However, this action office (or offices) should be regarded as provisional, and DOD may well decide that

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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a different action office is more appropriate given its organizational structure.

Recommendation S-1: The Secretary of Defense, through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should designate an organization responsible for providing direct operational support for cyber-defense to commanders.

As noted above, defensive information operations require specialized expertise that may take years to develop. Thus, it is in the short run unrealistic to expect operational units to develop their own organic capabilities in this area. Because the committee believes that all operators and commanders during exercises and operations must be supported in the C4I defensive role by specialized experts serving in operations centers, it makes sense to organize units that can be deployed with forces that are dedicated to providing operational support. Providing such support also reinforces the commitment of DOD to this mission.

In its site visits, the committee observed limited resources devoted to providing operational support for the information systems security mission in some instances, such as the 609th Information Warfare Squadron at Blue Flag 98. But even in these instances (and they were not frequent), the defensive resources and efforts have been paltry compared to the magnitude and severity of the threat. The National Security Agency provides invaluable technical support, but for the most part does not appear to provide direct operational support to deployed units (or those on exercise). The services are beginning to pay more attention to the requirements of information systems security, and each has established an information warfare component, another promising development. But until the operators are brought into the picture in a central and visible manner, the security of fielded systems will remain inadequate.28

Only the Secretary of Defense has the necessary defense-wide purview of authority to designate and properly fund an appropriate organization to perform this function. The committee is silent on the appropriate executing organization, but notes that today the Joint Command and Control Warfare Center does do some of the things that the committee believes should be done in providing direct defensive support to commanders, although not on the scale that the committee believes is necessary. Furthermore, the Joint Task Force on Computer Network Defense is

28.  

Today, NSA does provide significant signal intelligence support to field commanders. Whether or not it is the NSA that is tasked with providing defensive support to operational commanders, this NSA role with respect to signal intelligence suggests the feasibility of such a role for some organization.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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charged with operational defensive responsibilities; it remains to be seen whether this organization provides adequate defensive support to commanders in the field.

Recommendation S-2: The Secretary of Defense should ensure that adequate information system security tools are available to all DOD civilian and military personnel, direct that all personnel be properly trained in the use of these tools, and then hold all personnel accountable for their information system security practices.

Accountability for upholding the values of an organization is an essential element of promulgating a culture. Once senior leaders have articulated a department-wide policy for information systems security and provided personnel with appropriate tools, training, and resources, it is necessary to develop well-defined structures with clear lines of responsibility.

Policies require procedures to translate their intent and goals into everyday practices, which may vary somewhat across departments. The most important aspect of such procedures is that authority and responsibility for implementation must be clearly assigned and audited by higher authority. In addition, units within the organization need procedures to determine the proper access privileges to an information system for individuals. Furthermore, privileges once determined must be established responsively (e.g., a new user needs certain privileges granted quickly in order to perform his or her job, and users who have been compromised must have their privileges revoked quickly).

In addition to the necessary policies and procedures, accountability within DOD rests on several pillars, including:

  •  Education and training. All users of information and C4I systems must receive some minimum level of training in relevant security practices before being granted access to these systems. Refresher courses are also necessary to remind long-time users about existing practices and to update them on changes to the threat. Note also that training activities for information systems security can be seen as a disruptive and unnecessary intrusion into the already busy schedule of personnel.
  •  Incentives, rewards, and opportunities for professional advancement . For security to be taken seriously, people within the organization must see the benefits and costs of compliance with good security practices. For example, promotions and an upward career path should be possible for specialists in information systems security, understanding that unless pay scales are changed, the lure of the private sector may prove irresistible for many individuals. Personnel who demonstrate extraordinary diligence
Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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  • or performance under information attack should be eligible for special recognition (e.g., cash awards, medals).
  •  Individual and unit-based measures of performance. Military and civilian personnel should have an information security component as part of their performance ratings. Units should be rated with respect to their information security practices in exercises.
  •  Sanctions. The other side of rewards is sanctions. Sanctions for violations of good information systems security practice must be applied uniformly to all violators. Experience in other organizations indicates that if security practices are violated and no response follows, or if sanctions are applied, but only irregularly, after a long delay, or with little impact on perpetrators, the policy regime promoting security is severely undermined, and its legitimacy is suspect. Commanders and high-ranking officials, in particular, are often willing to compromise security practices for their own convenience and ease of use, and may not give the subject due attention in their oversight roles. It is thus not unreasonable that system administrators and their commanders, given the necessary tools, training, and resources, be held accountable for keeping systems configured securely and maintaining good operational security practices with respect to information systems security.29

Because this recommendation calls for an across-the-board cultural change within DOD, many different offices must be involved. The senior leadership within the department—the Secretary of Defense—must take responsibility for a department-wide policy on information systems security. The service secretaries and their military chiefs of staff must develop policies that tie performance on information systems security issues to appropriate sanctions and rewards. Given the National Security Agency's traditional role in providing tools for information security, the National Security Agency is probably the most appropriate agency to identify available tools that are practically usable by DOD personnel at all levels of seniority and irrespective of specialized expertise (i.e., they should be usable by tank commanders as well as C4I specialists). Military departments and the Office of the Secretary of Defense must take steps to instruct military and civilian personnel, respectively, in the use of these tools.

29.  

For example, the Army has explored the possibility of security regulations that would make base commanders and systems operators liable for information systems intrusions under the military's Uniform Code of Military Justice. See Elana Varon, "Army to Hold Commanders and Sysops Liable for Hacks," Federal Computer Week, February 2, 1998.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

Recommendation S-3: The Secretary of Defense, through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the CINCs, should support and fund a program to conduct frequent, unannounced penetration testing of deployed C4I systems.

As noted above, a continuing search for technical, operational, and procedural vulnerabilities in a network or system is essential, especially for those that are operating in an exercise or in an actual deployment. (An example of such a search is the communications security monitoring undertaken by the National Security Agency. In other domains such as base security, unscheduled red team visits are not uncommon.) Such tests should be conducted at a level consistent with a high-grade threat, and must be conducted against different C4I assets. These red team or tiger team probes would be unscheduled and conducted without the knowledge of the installation being probed; furthermore, the teams conducting would report to and be under the direction of parties that are separate from those of the installation being tested. Information gleaned from these probes should be passed to cognizant authorities within the DOD and the administrator of the network penetrated; if a penetration is successful where the implementation of a known fix would have stopped the penetration, the commander of the installation and the administrator should be sanctioned. Note the critical focus on C4I systems operating in a "full-up" mode, rather than on individual C4I components.

A second important element of penetration testing is for the installation itself—probably under the technical direction of the on-site system administrator—to conduct or request its own penetration testing. Information on successful penetrations conducted under these auspices should still be shared with cognizant DOD authorities, but in order to encourage installation commanders to conduct such testing on their own, sanctions should not be applied to vulnerabilities that are discovered.

In the area of DOD-wide penetration testing, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I has the authority to direct such testing. The CINCs, especially the U.S. Atlantic Command as the force provider, have operational responsibilities, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff must cooperate in the promulgation of policy in this area because such testing has a direct impact on operational matters. The committee also notes that the Information Warfare Red Team of the Joint Command and Control Warfare Center in San Antonio, Texas,30 was created to improve the readiness posture of the DOD by identifying vulnerabilities in information systems and vulnerabilities caused by use of these information systems and then demon-

30.  

For additional information about the Information Warfare Red Team, see the OSD Web page online at <http://www.acq.osd.mil/at/a6-iwrt.htm>.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

strating these vulnerabilities to operators and developers (sometimes as part of the opposition force in exercises). The Information Warfare Red Team was initiated in 1995 and is sponsored jointly by the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I, and the Joint Staff Operations Directorate. Establishing the Information Warfare Red Team is an important step in the right direction to support the intent of this recommendation, but the scale of the activities undertaken by the Information Warfare Red Team is incommensurate with the much larger need for such testing.

Recommendation S-4: The Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I should mandate the immediate department-wide use of currently available network and configuration management tools and strong authentication mechanisms.

Many information vulnerabilities arise from improper system or network configuration.31 For example, a given system on a network may have a modem improperly attached to it that is not known to the network administrator. It may be attached for the most benign of reasons, such as a programmer or an applications developer who needs off-hours access to the system to complete work on an application on time. But the very presence of such a device introduces a security hole through which penetrations may occur. Or, a firewall may be improperly configured to allow Web access for a certain system when in fact the system should only be able to transmit/receive e-mail. Default passwords and accounts may still be active on a given system, allowing adversaries inappropriate access. Foreign software may have been downloaded inadvertently for use on some system, software whose purpose is hostile.

A network/system administrator should know the configuration of the network/systems for which he is responsible. He or she should be able to find unauthorized modems, poor passwords, factory settings, and unpatched holes in operating systems. But because checking an operational configuration is very labor-intensive if done manually, configuration management and network assessment tools must be able to run under automated control on a continuous basis, alerting the administrator when variances from the known configuration are detected. Some tools are available to do configuration management and network assessment, as well as inspection tools that allow correct configurations to be in-

31.  

As used here, system or network configuration does not refer to what is often called source code configuration management, but rather to administrator-determined settings for services to be made available to various users, and other such "run-time" configuration parameters.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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spected. These tools are not perfect, but their widespread use would be a significant improvement over current DOD practice.

A second aspect of configuration control is more difficult to achieve. Good configuration control also requires that every piece of executable code on every machine carry a digital signature that is periodically checked as a part of configuration monitoring. Furthermore, code that cannot be signed (e.g., macros in a word processor) must be disabled until development indicates a way to sign it. Today, it is quite feasible to require the installation of virus-checking programs on all servers and to limit the ability of users to download or install their own software (though Java and Active-X applets do complicate matters to some extent). Census software or regular audits can be used to ensure compliance with such policies. However, no tool known to the committee and available today undertakes this task systematically.

Note that it is not practical to secure every system in the current inventory. It is probably unrealistic to develop and maintain tools that do thorough monitoring of the security configuration for more than two or three platforms (e.g., Windows NT and Sun UNIX). Over the long run, it may well be necessary to remove other systems from operational use, depending on the trade-offs between lower costs associated with maintaining fewer systems and greater security vulnerabilities arising from less diversity in the operating systems base.

Authentication of human users is a second area in which DOD practices do not match the best practices found in the private sector. Passwords—ubiquitously used within the DOD as an authentication device—have many well-known weaknesses. An adversary can guess passwords, or reuse a compromised password (e.g., one found in transit on a network by a ''sniffer"), and can compromise a password without the knowledge of its legitimate user.

A hardware-based authentication mechanism suffers from these weaknesses to a much lesser extent.32 Because the mechanism is based on a physical piece of hardware, it cannot be duplicated freely (whereas passwords are duplicated when one person tells another a password). The hardware can be designed to be tamper-resistant, which increases the difficulty of duplicating it. Furthermore, because persistent (i.e., long-last-

32.  

The device (e.g., a personal computer card) is enabled by a short password, usually called a PIN, entered by the user directly into the device. The device then engages in a secure and unforgeable cryptographic protocol with the system demanding the authentication; this protocol is much stronger than any password could be. The use of passwords is strictly local to the device and does not suffer from the well-known problems of passwords on networks, for example "sniffing" and playback attacks. This authentication depends on what you have (the device) together with that you know (the PIN).

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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ing) identifying information is never transmitted outside the piece of hardware, attacks to which password authentication is vulnerable (e.g., sniffing and playback attack) are essentially impossible. Hardware-based authentication is a highly effective method for authenticating communications originating from individuals. It also has particular value in the protection of remote access points (Box 3.5).

Biometric identifiers complement hardware-based authentication devices. Because biometric information is closely tied to the user, biometric identifiers serve a function similar to that of the personal identification number (PIN) that is used to activate the device. Biometric identifiers are based on some distinctive physical characteristics of an individual (e.g., a fingerprint, a voiceprint, a retinal scan); biometric authentication works by comparing a real-time reading of some biometric signature to a previously stored signature. Biometric authentication is a newer technology than that of hardware-based authentication; as such it is less well developed (e.g., slower, less accurate) and more expensive even as it promises to improve security beyond that afforded by PINs.

BOX 3.5 Protection of Remote Access Points

Remote access points pose particular vulnerabilities. A hostile user attempting to gain access to a computer on the premises of a U.S. command post, for example, must first gain physical entry to the facility. He also runs the risk of being challenged face to face in his use of the system. Thus, it makes far more sense for an adversary to seek access remotely, where the risk of physical challenge is essentially zero.

Strong authentication—whether hardware-based or biometric—is thus particularly important for protecting remote access points that might be used by individuals with home or portable computers. Some organizations (not necessarily within the DOD) protect their remote access points by using dial-back procedures1 or by embedding the remote access telephone number in the software employed by remote users to establish a connection. Neither approach is adequate for protecting remote access points (e.g., dial-back security is significantly weakened in the face of a threat that is capable of penetrating a telephone switch, such as a competent military information warfare group), and their use does not substitute for strong authentication techniques.

1.  

In a dial-back procedure, a remote user dials a specified telephone number to access the system. The system then hangs up and checks the caller's number against a directory of approved remote access telephone numbers. If the number matches an approved number, the system dials the user back and restores the connection.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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Hardware-based authentication can also be used to authenticate all computer-to-computer communications (e.g., those using security protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer or IPSec). In this way, all communications carried in the network can be authenticated, not just those from outside a security perimeter. "Mutual suspicion" requiring mutual authentication among peers is an important security measure in any network.

The potential value of strong authentication mechanisms is more fully exploited when the authentication is combined with mechanisms such as IPSec or TCP wrappers that protect the host machines against suspicious external connections33 and a fine-grained authorization for resource usage. For example, a given user may be allowed to read and write to some databases, but only to read others. Access privileges may be limited in time as well (e.g., a person brought in on a temporary basis to work on a particular issue may have privileges revoked when he or she stops working on that issue). In other words, the network administrator should be able to establish groups of users that are authorized to participate in particular missions and the network configured to allow only such interactions as necessary to accomplish those missions. Similarly, the network administrator should be able to place restrictions on the kinds of machine to-machine interactions allowable on the network. This requires that the administrator have tools for the establishment of groups of machines allowed to interact in certain ways.

Some network management/configuration systems allow configuration control that would support fine-grained access controls. But most do not make it easy for a network administrator to quickly establish and revoke these controls.

Finally, the trend of today toward "single login" presents a dangerous vulnerability.34 When a perimeter defense is breached, an adversary

33.  

TCP wrappers protect individual server machines, whereas firewalls protect entire networks and groups of machines. Wrappers are programs that intercept communications from a client to a server and perform a function on the service request before passing it on to the service program. Such functions can include security checking. For example, an organization may install a wrapper around the patient record server physicians use to access patient information from home. The wrapper could be configured to check connecting Internet addresses against a predefined approved list and to record the date and time of the connection for later auditing. Use of wrapper programs in place of firewalls means that all accessible server machines must be configured with wrapper(s) in front of network services, and they must be properly maintained, monitored, and managed. See Wietse Venema. 1992. "TCP WRAPPER: Network Monitoring, Access Control and Booby Traps," pp. 85-92 in Proceedings of the Third Usenix UNIX Security Symposium, Baltimore, Md., September.

34.  

"Single login" refers to the need of a user to log in (and authenticate himself) only once per session, regardless of how many systems he accesses during that session.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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can roam the entire network without ever being challenged again to authenticate himself. A more secure arrangement would be for the network to support remote interrogation of the hardware authentication device by every system the user attempts to access, even though the user need only enter the PIN once to activate the device. In this way, every request to a computer, no matter where it is located on the network, is properly supported by strong evidence of the machine and the individual that is responsible for the request, allowing this evidence to be checked against the rules that determine who is allowed access to what resources.

Implementing this recommendation is not easy, but is well within the state of the art. A reader for a hardware authentication device in every keyboard and in every laptop (via personal computer-card slots) is very practical today.35 In principle, even smart "dog tags" could be used as the platform for a hardware authentication device. However, the most difficult issue is likely to be the establishment of the public-key infrastructure for DOD upon which these authentication devices will depend. Biometric authentication devices are not practical for universal deployment (e.g., for soldiers in the field), but they may be useful in more office-like environments (e.g., command centers).

Since DOD increasingly relies on commercial technology for the components of C4I systems, engagement of commercial support for authentication is important to making this affordable. It should be possible to enlist strong industry support for a program to make better authentication more affordable if the program is properly conceived and marketed. Many commercial customers have very similar requirements, which are poorly met by existing security products. Thus, from a practical standpoint, the DOD's needs with respect to authentication are very similar to commercial needs.

Because this recommendation calls for DOD-wide action with respect to C4I systems, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I must promulgate appropriate policy for the department. The information security policy is within the purview of the DOD's Chief Information Officer, who today is also the Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I. Finally, given its history of involvement with information systems security, the National Security Agency is probably the appropriate body to identify the best available authentication mechanisms and configuration tools.

35.  

The Fortezza card was an attempt by the DOD in the mid-1990s to promote hardware-based authentication. While the Fortezza program itself has not enjoyed the success that was once hoped for it, the fact remains that one of the capabilities that Fortezza provides—widespread use of hardware-based authentication—is likely to prove a valuable security tool.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

Recommendation S-5: The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I should direct the appropriate defense agencies to develop new tools for information security.

Aligning DOD information security practice with the best practices found in industry today would be a major step forward in the DOD information security posture, but it will not be sufficient. Given the stakes of national security, DOD should feel an obligation to go further still. Going further will require research and development in many areas.

For example, tools for systematic code verification to be used in configuration monitoring are an area in which DOD-sponsored research and development could have high payoff in both the military and civilian worlds, as organizations in both worlds face the same problem of hostile code.

A second example involves fine-grained authorization for resource usage. Some network management/configuration systems allow configuration control that would support fine-grained access controls. But most do not make it easy for a network administrator to quickly establish and revoke these controls, and DOD-sponsored research and development in this area could have high payoff as well.

A third area for research and development is tools that can be used in an adaptive defense of C4I systems. Adaptive defenses change the configuration of the defense in response to particular types of attack. In much the same way that an automatic teller machine eats an ATM card if the wrong PIN is entered more than three times, an "adaptive" defense that detects an attack being undertaken through a given channel can deny access to that channel for the attacker, thus forcing him to expend the time and resources to find a different channel.

More sophisticated forms of adaptive defense might call for "luring" the attacker into a safe area of the system and manipulating his cyber-environment to waste his time and to feed him misleading information. For example, certain known security holes can be left unfixed, so that an attacker can have relatively easy access to the system through those holes. However, in fact, the information and system resources accessible through those holes are structured in such a way that they look authentic while providing nothing useful to the attacker. Deceptive defenses can force the attacker to waste time so that the defense has a greater opportunity to monitor the attacker and/or track the attacker's location and to take appropriate action. On the other hand, its long-term success presumes that the attacker cannot distinguish the holes left open deliberately from the ones unintentionally left open and that the defenders have the discipline

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

to monitor the former; thus, such "deceptive" techniques cannot be regarded as anything more than a component of effective cyber-defenses.

A fourth area for research and development is biometrics. The basic technology and underlying premises of biometrics have been validated, but biometric authentication mechanisms are still sometimes too slow and too inaccurate for convenient use. (For example, they often take longer to operate than typing a password, and they sometimes result in false negatives (i.e., they reject a valid user fingerprint or retinal scan).) Broad user acceptance will depend both on more convenient-to-use mechanisms and on the integration of biometrics into the man-machine interface, such as a fingerprint reader in a mouse or keyboard.

Finally, research and development on active defenses is needed. Active defenses make attackers pay a price for attacking (whether or not they are successful), thus dissuading a potential attacker and offering deterrence to attack in the first place (an idea that raises policy issues as important as those associated with Recommendation S-7 (below). Passive information systems security is extremely important but against a determined opponent with the time and resources to conduct an unlimited number of penetration attempts against a passive non-responding target, the attacker will inevitably succeed. This area for research and development raises important policy issues that are discussed below. But the fact remains that even if policy allowed the possibility of retaliation, the tools to support such retaliation are wholly inadequate. Instruments to support a policy-authorized retaliation are needed in two areas:

  •  Identification of an attacker. Before any retaliatory action can be undertaken, the attacker must be identified in a reasonable time scale with a degree of confidence commensurate with the severity of that action. Today, the identification of an attacker is an enormously time-consuming task—even if the identification task is successful, it can take weeks to identify an attacker. And, it is often that considerable uncertainty remains about the actual identity of the attacker, who may be an individual using an institution's computer without the knowledge or permission of that institution. Note also that better tools for the accurate and rapid location of cyber-attackers would greatly assist law enforcement authorities in apprehending and prosecuting them.
  •  Striking back against an attacker. Once an attacker is identified, tools are needed to attack him or her. Many of the techniques employed against friendly systems can be used against an attacker as well, but all of these techniques are directed against computer systems rather than individual perpetrators. Furthermore, using these techniques may well be quite cumbersome for friendly forces (just as they are for attackers). However, the
Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×
  • most basic problem in striking back is that from a technical perspective, not enough is known about what retaliation and active defenses might be.

Other possible research and development areas include secure composition of secure systems and components to support ad hoc (e.g., coalition) activities; better ways to configure and manage security features; generation of useful security specifications from programs; more robust and secure architectures for networking (e.g., requiring trackable, certificated authentication on each packet, along with a network fabric that denies transit to unauthenticatable packets); and automatic determination of classification from content.

Many agencies within DOD can conduct research and development for better information security tools, but a high-level mandate for such activity would help increase the priority of work in this area for such agencies. The National Security Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are the most likely agencies to develop better tools for information systems security. As noted above, better tools developed for DOD use are also likely to have considerable application in the commercial sector, a fact that places a high premium on conducting research and development in this area in an unclassified manner. Note that Trust in Cyberspace also outlines a closely related research agenda.36

Recommendation S-6: The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service Secretaries should direct that a significant portion of all tests and exercises involving DOD C4I systems be conducted under the assumption that they are connected to a compromised network.

Because both threat and technology evolve rapidly, perfect information systems security will never be achieved. Prudence thus requires C4I developers and operators to assume some non-zero probability that any system will be successfully attacked, that some DOD systems have been successfully attacked, and that some C4I systems are compromised at any given moment. (A "compromised" system or network is one that an adversary has penetrated or disrupted in some way, so that it is to some extent no longer capable of serving all of the functions that it could serve when it was not compromised.) This pessimistic assumption guards against the hubris of assumed perfection. However, despite this assumption, most of the C4I systems connected to the compromised components should be able to function effectively despite local security failures.

36.  

Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council. 1999. Trust in Cyberspace, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

C4I systems should be designed and developed so that their functions and connectivity are easy to reconfigure under different levels of information threat. Critical functions must be identified in advance for different levels of threat (at different "INFOCONS") so that responses can occur promptly in a planned and orderly fashion. Note also that the nature of a mission-critical function may vary during the course of a battle.

C4I systems should be tested and exercised routinely under the assumption that they are connected to a compromised network. The capability of U.S. forces against an adversary is strongly dependent on the training they receive, and so C4I tiger teams playing in exercises involving C4I (i.e., every exercise) should be able to operate in a largely unconstrained mode (i.e., subject to some but not many limits). The lack of constraint is intended to stress friendly forces in much the same way that very well trained opposition forces such as those at the Army's National Training Center, the Air Force's Air Warfare Center, and the Navy's Fighter Weapons School stress units that exercise there. However, because the activities of entirely unconstrained tiger teams may prevent the test or exercise from meeting other training goals, some limits are necessary. (The portion of the test or exercise subject to the assumption of a compromised network should also be expected to increase, and the limits on tiger team activities relaxed, as friendly forces develop more proficiency in coping with information threats.) With tiger teams operating in this mode, every battlefield C4I user could be made conscious that his information may have been manipulated and that at any instant it might be denied.

Note that assuming a compromised network does not necessarily mean that the network cannot be used—only that it must be used with caution. For example, the network can be continually monitored for indications of anomalous activity, even if the network is nominally regarded as "secure." Network configurations can be periodically altered to invalidate information that the enemy may have been able to collect about the network. These steps would be analogous to periodic changes in tactical call signs that are used to identify units, an operational security measure that is taken to frustrate (or at least to complicate the efforts of) enemy eavesdroppers.

Doctrine should account for the possibility that a tactical network has been compromised or penetrated as well. In addition to continually taking preventive measures even when the network is not known to have been compromised, commanders must have a range of useful responses when a compromise or penetration is detected. This premise differs from today's operational choices, which are either to stay connected to everything or to disconnect and have nothing, with added exhortations to "be careful" when intrusions are detected. Finally, units must know how they

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

will function when the only C4I available to them is unsecured voice communications.

In short, it is useful for the U.S. military to be trained in how to use its C4I systems and networks even if they have been compromised, as well as for the possibility that they will be largely unavailable for use at all.

Because this recommendation affects all operational deployments and exercises, both service and joint, a number of offices must take action. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should promulgate a directive that calls for such a policy in all joint exercises and operational deployments. And, because many C4I systems are owned and operated and controlled by the services, the services—perhaps through their training and doctrine commands—should establish doctrinal precepts for commanders to follow in implementing this policy.

Recommendation S-7: The Secretary of Defense should take the lead in explaining the severe consequences for U.S. military capabilities that arise from a purely passive defense of its C4I infrastructure and in exploring policy options to respond to these challenges.

Because a purely passive defense will ultimately fail against a determined attacker who does not pay a price for unsuccessful attacks, a defensive posture that allows for the possibility of inflicting pain on the attacker would bolster the security of U.S. C4I systems.37 Today, a cyber-attack on U.S. C4I systems is regarded primarily as a matter for law enforcement, which has the lead responsibility for apprehending and prosecuting the attacker. DOD personnel may provide technical assistance in locating and identifying the attacker, but normally DOD has no role beyond that.

If an attack is known with certainty to emanate from a foreign power (a very difficult determination to make, to be sure) and to be undertaken by that foreign power, the act can be regarded as a matter of national security. If so, then a right to self-defense provides legal justification for retaliation. If the National Command Authorities (i.e., the President and the Secretary of Defense, or their duly authorized deputies or successors) decides that retaliation is appropriate, the remaining questions are those of form (e.g., physical or cyber) and severity (how hard to hit back). Under such circumstances, DOD would obviously play a role. However, DOD is legally prohibited from taking action beyond identification of a cyber-attacker on its own initiative, even though the ability of the United

37.  

DOD is not alone in having to deal with the difficulties of a purely passive defense. But given the importance to the national security, the inevitable consequences of passive defense have immense significance for DOD.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

States to defend itself against external threats is compromised by attacks on its C4I infrastructure, a compromise whose severity will only grow as the U.S. military becomes more dependent on the leverage provided by C4I.

From a national security perspective, the geographical origin of the attack matters far less than the fact that it is military C4I assets that are being attacked. Thus, the military desirability of cyber-retaliation to protect the nation's ability to defend itself should be clear. But the notion of cyber-retaliation raises many legal and policy issues, including issues related to constitutional law, law enforcement, and civil liberties.

The legal issues are most significant in peacetime—if the United States were actively engaged in conflict, the restraints on DOD action might well be relaxed. But the boundary between peacetime and conflict is unclear, especially if overt military hostilities (i.e., force on force) have not yet broken out but an adversary is probing in preparation for an attack. It is this time that poses the most peril, because DOD is constrained—because it is "officially" peacetime and yet an adversary may be gaining valuable advantage through its probes.

As a first step, DOD should review the legal limits on its ability to defend itself and its C4I infrastructure against information attack. 38 After such a review, DOD should take the lead in advocating changes in national policy (including legislation, if necessary) that amend the current "rules of engagement" specifying the circumstances under which force is an appropriate response to a cyber-attack against its C4I infrastructure. These rules of engagement would explicitly specify the nature of the force that could be committed to retaliation (e.g., physical force, cyber-attack), the damage that such force should seek to inflict, the authorizations needed for various types of response, the degrees of certainty needed for various levels of attack, the issues that would need to be considered in any response (e.g., whether the benefits of exploiting the source of an attack outweigh the costs of allowing that attack to continue), and the oversight necessary to ensure that any retaliation falls within all the parameters specified in the relevant legal authorizations.

The committee is not advocating a change in national policy with respect to cyber-retaliation. Indeed, it was not constituted to address the larger questions of national policy, i.e., whether other national goals do or do not outweigh the narrower national security interest in protecting its military information infrastructure, and the committee is explicitly silent

38.  

Press reports indicate that DOD authorities are "struggling to define new rules for deciding when to launch cyber attacks, who should authorize and conduct them and where they fit into an overall defense strategy." See Bradley Graham, "Authorities Struggle with Cyberwar Rules," Washington Post, July 8, 1998, page Al.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
×

on the question of whether DOD should be given the authority (even if constrained and limited to specific types and circumstances) to allow it to retaliate against attackers of its C4I infrastructure. But it does believe that DOD should take the lead in explaining the severe consequences for its military capabilities that arise from a purely passive defense, that DOD should support changes in policy that might enable it, perhaps in concert with law enforcement agencies, to take a less passive stance, and that a national debate should begin about the pros and cons of passive versus active defense.

The public policy implications of this recommendation are profound enough that they call for involvement at the highest levels of the DOD—the active involvement of the Secretary of Defense is necessary to credibly describe the implications of passive defense for C4I systems in cyberspace.

To whom should DOD explain these matters? Apart from the interested public, the Congress plays a special role. The reason is that actual changes in national policy in this area that enable a less passive role for DOD will certainly require legislation. Such legislation would be highly controversial, have many stakeholders, and would be reasonable to consider (let alone adopt) only after a thorough national debate on the subject.

Suggested Citation:"3 Information Systems Security." National Research Council. 1999. Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6457.
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Rapid progress in information and communications technologies is dramatically enhancing the strategic role of information, positioning effective exploitation of these technology advances as a critical success factor in military affairs. These technology advances are drivers and enablers for the "nervous system" of the military—its command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) systems—to more effectively use the "muscle" side of the military.

Authored by a committee of experts drawn equally from the military and commercial sectors, Realizing the Potential of C4I identifies three major areas as fundamental challenges to the full Department of Defense (DOD) exploitation of C4I technology—information systems security, interoperability, and various aspects of DOD process and culture. The book details principles by which to assess DOD efforts in these areas over the long term and provides specific, more immediately actionable recommendations. Although DOD is the focus of this book, the principles and issues presented are also relevant to interoperability, architecture, and security challenges faced by government as a whole and by large, complex public and private enterprises across the economy.

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