March 1, 2018

CYCON U.S. 2018: Cyber Conflict During Competition

The Army Cyber Institute at West Point, in partnership with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, proudly presents the Proceedings from the 2018 International Conference on Cyber Conflict U.S. (CyCon U.S.). CyCon U.S. 2018 took place on 14-15 November 2018 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. The conference theme was Cyber Conflict during Competition. As the U.S. 2018 National Defense Strategy states, “Inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security.”

March 1, 2018

The Cyber Defense Review: Building an Intellectual Framework

The Cyber Defense Review (CDR) is a scholarly journal published by the Army Cyber Institute at West Point. The CDR publishes original, unpublished, relevant and engaging content from across the cyber community and is the only unclassified Department of Defense-sponsored journal that exclusively covers the cyber domain. The CDR engineers a multidisciplinary dialogue through thought-provoking research articles and essays on the strategic, operational, and tactical aspects of the cyber domain.

Feb. 26, 2018

Virtual Currency in a Cashless Society: A Potential Window into Economic Cyberwarfare

Science and technology have been an enormous part of America’s economic success since its formation. In the modern age, innovation lends itself to cyberspace, and more specifically, to financial technology (fintech). Global trade and investment are now increasingly tied to nation-state actors, with fintech playing a massive role in this connection

Dec. 7, 2017

Stabilizing the Borderland: Confronting IO, EW and Cyber in Ukraine

The report provides a detailed and robust look at the challenges Ukraine has faced, the perceptions of those involved in its security, defense, and education, and provides recommendations for future engagements. Our mission was to look beyond the headlines, to delve into the details, and give an unvarnished look at the utilization of cyber, EW, and IO in a hybrid conflict.

Oct. 1, 2017

The Cyber Defense Review: Continuing our Interdisciplinary Journey

Welcome to our fall edition of The Cyber Defense Review. We have added a couple of exciting innovations with this issue and some very thought-provoking pieces. First, I am happy to announce that the CDR is on JSTOR, providing an impressive extension of our distribution to their worldwide network of libraries and institutions. We also have added a research notes section. These high-velocity discussion papers are targeted at time-sensitive research and run between 1,500 and 3,000 words. This innovation provides another exciting section to add to our professional commentary and peer-reviewed research articles.

Aug. 1, 2017

Book Review: Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control your World

We all surrender privacy in some form and fashion and allow companies to gather data so these enterprises can better serve us. Our cell phone provider needs to know where we are to route calls to the appropriate cell tower. As consumers and users, we allow the cell phone company to track and follow our moves because the convenience of being able to receive a call is greater than our perceived loss of privacy. For the last twenty years, Americans have accepted that the benefit of convenience outweighs the loss of privacy.

July 1, 2017

The Cyber Defense Review: Investing in Cybersecurity Solutions

We cannot truly predict how history will treat 2017, but with “WannaCry”, “NotPetya” and election hacking, cyber conflict will be a major chapter. The latest ransomware attacks and their uncertain attribution continue to add complexity to an already wicked problem. The DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge created computers that could find and patch their own vulnerabilities, but we have much work to do incorporating artificial intelligence into a cybersecurity solution.

May 1, 2017

The Cyberspace Workforce: An Array of Opportunities

In private industry, businesses identify employment needs, create job openings, and attempt to attract talent. Likewise, the U.S. Army created the Cyber branch in a similar manner.

April 27, 2017

Four Imperatives for Cybersecurity Success in the Digital Age: Part 2

Having joined Palo Alto Networks following a 35-year career in the U.S. military, the last decade of which I served in a variety of leadership positions in cyber operations, strategy and policy, I have found that many of the cybersecurity challenges we face from a national security perspective are the same in the broader global business environment. This blog post series describes what I consider to be four major imperatives for cybersecurity success in the digital age, regardless of whether your organization is a part of the public or private sector.

April 5, 2017

The Value of Intelligence and Secrets

Secretary of State Henry Stimson was famously quoted “Gentlemen don’t read each other’s mail” in 1929. Just a couple years later during the 1930-31 London Naval Conference and the 1932 Geneva Disarmament Conference, Secretary Stimson would come to understand and appreciate the value of national security intelligence and would reverse himself.