Winter 2019

In earlier editorials, I’ve written about the urgent need to modernise IO capabilities to meet the challenges of our information-age world. There can be no doubt: the nature of power has changed radically. In this new era, nations, groups, even individuals conduct multi-faceted information campaigns designed to influence perception of everything from soft drinks to presidential candidates to national security threats. These campaigns employ wholesale onslaughts of manipulated texts and images as instruments of informational power. Perception management and computer network operations figure prominently as new informational capabilities.

Abstract: 

The information influence framework was developed to identify and to assess hostile, strategy-driven, state-sponsored information activities. This research proposes and tests an analytical approach and assessment tool called information influence and interference to measure changes in the level of strategy-driven, state-sponsored information activities by the timeliness, specificity, and targeted nature of communications as well as the dissemination tactics of publicly available information. 

Abstract:

Applying big data and sentiment analysis to TASS reporting and 15 years of Russian Foreign Ministry documents, this paper tests the importance Moscow places on information control. By comparing the Russian government’s responses to four categories of foreign policy tools— diplomatic, information, military, and economic (the DIME construct)—this research finds that Russia reacts far more negatively to information tools than to military, diplomatic, or economic tools. 

Abstract:

As more businesses and individuals migrate their workloads to cloud infrastructures, many are unaware of a potential issue inherent in these systems: information leakage, the potential inadvertent release of data through a Virtual Machine (VM) to another VM, which then transfers the information to a third party.

Disclaimer: These are the authors’ personal views and are not associated with the U.S. government, U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Military Academy, or U.S. Navy policy.

Abstract:

This paper identifies the way the international system has adapted to threatening weapons, such as weapons of mass destruction, through laws and treaties. This is a fundamental way of thinking about dealing with emerging cyber threats. The speed and tenacity of cyber weapons present a stark future of unbound hybrid warfare, driven primarily by China and Russia, which challenges the Western international order.

Abstract:

Vulnerabilities leveraged by Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) that ultimately allow them to gain access to critical data and unveil private information are often far removed from the portions of the security environment where initial access is gained. This paper presents a defensi- ble scholarly decomposition of the red-team process itself and discusses how traditional red-team assessments may not be the most effective solution for emulating APT threats and mitigating their impacts.

Abstract:

This article series examines the evolution of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Information Op- eration (IO) activities during an eight-year timespan from 2006 to 2014. The case study shows a change in the Israeli Defense Forces’ activities in the information domain. It also shows that, while battles can be easily won in the physical domain of the battlefield through superior firepower, the battles in the information domain are much more complicated and require much more diverse and complex means to achieve victories. The first part of the article series describes the framework and methods of the study and two military operations conducted in 2006 and 2008-2009. 

Abstract:

This article series examines the evolution of the Israel Defense Forces’ Information Operation activities during an eight-year timespan, from 2006 to 2014. To this end, the case study shows a change in the Israel Defense Forces’ activities in the information domain. It also shows that, while battles can be easily won in the physical domain of the battlefield through superior firepower, the battles in the information domain are much more complicated and require much more diverse and complex means to achieve victories. The first part of the article series described the framework and methods of the study and two military operations conducted in 2006 and 2008-2009.

Abstract:

This article series examines the evolution of the Israel Defense Forces’ Information Operation activities during an eight-year timespan from 2006 to 2014. To this end, the case study shows a change in the Israel Defense Forces’ activities in the information domain. It also shows that, while battles can be easily won in the physical domain of the battlefield through superior firepower, the battles in the information domain are much more complicated and require much more diverse and complex means to achieve victories.