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Understanding Cybersecurity

Understanding Cybersecurity

Gary Jr. Schaub

(2018)

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Book Details

Abstract

Over the last decade, the internet and cyber space has had a phenomenal impact on all parts of society, from media and politics to defense and war. Governments around the globe have started to develop cyber security strategies, governance and operations to consider cyberspace as an increasingly important and contentious international issue. This book provides the reader with the most up-to-date survey of the cyberspace security practices and processes in two accessible parts; governance and operations. Suitable for a wide-ranging audience, from professionals, analysts, military personnel, policy-makers and academics, this collection offers all sides of cyberspace issues, implementation and strategy for the future.

Gary Schaub is also the co-editor of “Private Military and Security Contractors” (2016), click link for full details: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442260214/Private-Military-and-Security-Contractors-Controlling-the-Corporate-Warrior
This compact volume includes some of the best scholarship in the field, providing a deeper understanding of the dynamics of cyberspace and cyberwar. The research and analysis here are essential reading to understand the important cybersecurity challenges facing the United States and the international community today.
Jason Healey, Senior Fellow for the Cyber Statecraft Initiative of the Atlantic Council and Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs
Does the US mature cyber as a strategic capability and become a world class player in this domain or cede the field to opponents and perpetually react to their actions? Gaining cyber dominance will be a long and arduous journey. The substantial gap between capability and policy will impede our rate of progress. A first step to narrow this critical gap and accelerate our journey is to read this volume, internalize the key challenges and broaden the debate across the policy, legal, privacy, information technology, military and intelligence sectors.


James Gosler, Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
Does the US mature cyber as a strategic capability and become a world class player in this domain or cede the field to opponents and perpetually react to their actions? Gaining cyber dominance will be a long and arduous journey. The substantial gap between capability and policy will impede our rate of progress. A first step to narrow this critical gap and accelerate our journey is to read this volume, internalize the key challenges and broaden the debate across the policy, legal, privacy, information technology, military and intelligence sectors.
James Gosler, Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
Long acknowledged as the fifth domain of military operations, cyberspace remains the least understood - a "place" where daily skirmishes involve nation-states, private corporations, and individuals on territory lacking the boundaries, rules, and doctrine that delimit the counterpart domains of air, space, land, and sea. The hard and necessary work of maturing cyber doctrine and practice will be built upon the careful scholarship such as that found in this volume - a must read for any who will operate in cyberspace, and all who will depend on their success.
Chris Inglis, Former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency
Recommended: A compilation of updated articles sourced from the US Air Force journal Strategic Studies Quarterly, this volume looks at cyberspace from a governmental and military standpoint, focusing on defense planning and strategy. Schaub (Univ. of Copenhagen) has edited a cohesive monograph on the topic, and contributors include an authoritative combination of academics and industry experts. While officially divided into two complementary sections, governance and operations, Understanding Cybersecurity seamlessly delves first into the philosophical issues of governing a realm “bound only by the limits of human innovation” (p. 3), then looks at the logistical issues of governance, and finally discusses defense and operational strategy. With cyberspace now considered the “fifth domain” of security operations by the US Department of Defense, it stands to reason that the largest portion of this monograph presents a militaristic view of managing cyber conflict and planning for cyber warfare. While many current works approach cybersecurity from an information technology perspective, this work provides a needed academic primer on the philosophy and logistics behind how governmental agencies are creating policy in regards to cybersecurity and securing infrastructures against cyber threats.
Gary Schaub, Jr. is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Military Studies, Department of Political Science, the University of Copenhagen.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover 1
Half Title i
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Table of contents vii
Preface ix
The Future of Things Cyber xi
Chapter One Internet Governance and National Security 1
Internet Governance and U.S. National Cyber Strategy 2
The Friendly Side of Cyber Conflict 4
Multistakeholders and Internet Governance 8
Critical Internet Resources and Infrastructure 10
The ICANN and the Current Internet Governance Structure 11
Internet Engineering Task Force: Stewards of TCP/IP 12
Global Challenges to the Status Quo 13
The (Potential) Tyranny of the International Telecommunications Union over Critical Internet Resources 14
Shadow “DNS” Rising 16
Conclusion 17
Notes 18
Chapter Two Managing Decentralized Cyber Governance: The Responsibility to Troubleshoot 25
Decentralized Governance of a Global System 27
Prohibition Regimes and International Security Governance 29
Prohibition in the Cyber Domain 30
Implementing Cyber Prohibition 33
The Responsibility to Troubleshoot 34
Coping with Unintended Consequences 34
Relationship to Responsibility to Protect 36
Implementing the Responsibility to Troubleshoot 38
Conclusion 43
Notes 44
Chapter Three Tragedy of the Cyber Commons? 49
Conceiving of the Cyber Commons 51
Governing the Cyber Commons 57
Size of Resource 58
Number of Users 59
Resource Unit Mobility 60
Importance of Resource to Users 61
Productivity of System 62
Predictability of System Dynamics 63
Leadership 64
Norms and Social Capital 65
Knowledge of the Resource and Its Users 67
Collective Choice Rules 67
Conclusions: Self-Governance in the Cyber Commons? 69
Notes 70
Chapter Four Rise of a Cybered Westphalian Age 2.0 77
The “Westphalian” Process 80
Practical Reinforcement—Borders Decrease the Ease of Cybered Offense 83
Virtual Borders—Feasible, Comfortable, and Manageable 84
Emergent Virtual Borders 88
Cyber Command: The U.S. Model 92
Resuscitation of International Relations Theory and History 97
Conclusion 100
Notes 101
Chapter Five Blown to Bits: China’s War in Cyberspace, August–September 2025 109
A Strategic Lens for East Asia 109
Asia’s Cyber (In)Security Problem 111
Considering State Cyber Conflict—The China Scenario 112
Laying the Field of Battle: A Clue of Cyber War to Come 113
Lifting the Electronic Veil 115
Computer Krieg 116
U.S. Response 120
Cyber War’s Role in the Trans-Asia War 123
Reflection on a Conflict that Wasn’t 124
Notes 125
Chapter Six Nuclear Lessons for Cybersecurity? 127
Cyberspace in Perspective 128
Learning from one Revolution to Another? 130
Some General Lessons 132
Strategy for a New Technology Will Lack Adequate Empirical Content 133
New Technologies Raise New Issues in Civil–Military Relations 134
Civilian Uses Will Complicate Effective National Security Strategies 135
International Cooperation Lessons 137
Learning Can Lead to Concurrence in Beliefs without Cooperation 137
Learning Is Often Lumpy and Discontinuous 138
Learning Occurs at Different Rates in Different Issues of a New Domain 139
Involve the Military in International Contacts 140
Deterrence Is Complex and Involves More Than Just Retaliation 141
Begin Arms Control with Positive-Sum Games Related to Third Parties 142
Conclusion 143
Notes 144
Chapter Seven Escalation Dynamics and Conflict Termination in Cyberspace 147
Terminology and Basic Concepts 147
Attribution 150
The Need for Intelligence Support 150
Active Defense 151
Evolving or Escalating Conflict 152
Crisis Stability 155
Signaling Intentions in Cyber Conflict 157
Determining the Impact and Magnitude of Cyber Response 158
Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures 158
Catalytic Cyber Conflict 159
Complications Introduced by Patriotic Hackers 159
Incentives for Self-Restraint in Escalation 161
De-escalation and Conflict Termination 161
Kinetic Escalation 164
The Political Side of Escalation 165
The Future of Escalation Dynamics 166
Notes 167
Chapter Eight The Specter of Nonobvious Warfare 171
When Is Warfare Nonobvious? 173
Types of Nonobvious Warfare 174
Cyber Warfare 175
Space Warfare 175
Electronic Warfare 176
Drones 176
Special Operators, Saboteurs, and Assassins 177
Proxy Attacks 177
Attacks Using Weapons of Mass Destruction 177
Intelligence Support to Combat Operations 178
The Uses of Nonobvious Warfare 178
The Target’s Response Options 181
Assessment and Conclusions 182
Notes 183
Chapter Nine Act and Actor Attribution in Cyberspace: A Proposed Analytic Framework 185
Defining Attribution 186
The Basic Legal Framework 186
Actor Attribution 188
Act Attribution 189
The Importance of Attribution 190
The Difficulty of Conclusive Attribution 191
An Analytic Model for Actor and Act Attribution 194
Quadrant 1: Low Actor Attribution Confidence/Low Degree of Harm 195
Quadrant 2: High Actor Attribution Confidence/Low Degree of Harm 196
Quadrant 3: Low Actor Attribution Confidence/High Degree of Harm 197
Quadrant 4: High Actor Attribution Confidence/High Degree of Harm 197
Two Cases Briefly Examined 198
Conclusion and Recommendations 200
Notes 201
Chapter Ten Strengthening Private–Public Partnerships in National Cybersecurity 205
The Current Strategy 206
The Evolution of U.S. Government Policy 207
The Emerging Threat Matrix 210
Legal Hurdles to Cooperation 214
Antitrust 214
Privacy and Confidentiality 215
Robust Private–Public Partnerships 218
Joint Planning 218
Incentives for New Partnerships 220
Who Defends Private Industry against Cyber Attack? 221
Balancing Public and Private Interests in Allocating Cost and Sharing Information 222
Conclusion 223
Notes 224
Bibliography 233
Index 259
About the Contributors 267