Securing the U.S. Defense Information Infrastructure

A Proposed Approach

Cover: Securing the U.S. Defense Information Infrastructure

It is widely believed, and increasingly documented, that the United States is vulnerable to various types of information warfare attacks. Threats range from nuisance attacks by hackers to those potentially putting national security at risk. The latter might include attacks on essential U.S. information systems in a major regional crisis or theater war. The purpose might be to deter (or coerce) a U.S. intervention, to degrade U.S. power projection capabilities, to punish the United States or its allies, or to undermine the support of the American public for the conflict. Critical command-and-control and intelligence systems are designed to be robust and secure under attack. However, their survivability cannot be taken for granted, and they depend on a diverse, primarily civilian and commercial, information infrastructure (consisting of the Internet and the public telephone network, among other elements). As the diversity and potential seriousness of threats to the U.S. information infrastructure have become apparent, national-security planners and analysts have begun to think of ways to counter such threats--to increase the infrastructure's availability for essential functions. The authors analyze the concept of a minimum essential information infrastructure (MEII) in light of the characteristics of the national information infrastructure and the nature of the threat. They suggest that it is useful to think of the MEII as a process rather than a hardened stand-alone structure, and they provide a methodology and a tool to support the implementation of that process by military units and other organizations.

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Paperback, 188 Pages
Year:
1999
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Document Details

  • Availability: Available
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 188
  • List Price: $35.00
  • Price: $28.00
  • ISBN/EAN: 0-8330-2713-1
  • Document Number: MR-993-OSD/NSA/DARPA
  • Year: 1999
  • Series: Monograph Reports

Contents

  • Preface PDF

  • Figures PDF

  • Tables PDF

  • Summary PDF

  • Acknowledgements

    Acknowledgments PDF

  • Acronyms

    Acronyms and Abbreviations PDF

  • Glossary PDF

  • Chapter One

    Introduction PDF

  • Chapter Two

    The Information Warfare Threat and the Meii Response PDF

  • Chapter Three

    Vulnerabilities PDF

  • Chapter Four

    Responsive Security Techniques PDF

  • Chapter Five

    Identifying Security Techniques PDF

  • Chapter Six

    Distribution of Research Effort PDF

  • Chapter Seven

    Recommendations PDF

  • Appendix A

    Historical Note on the U.S. Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network (Meecn) PDF

  • Appendix B

    How Threats Relevant to an Meii Differ from Hacker Nuisance Attacks PDF

  • Appendix C

    Biological Analogies for Information System Survivability PDF

  • Appendix D

    Prioritization in Information Systems PDF

  • Appendix E

    On Deception PDF

  • Appendix F

    Mapping Security Solution Techniques to Vulnerabilities PDF

  • Appendix G

    Information Assurance Research Projects Examined PDF

  • References PDF

This report is part of the RAND Corporation monograph report series. The monograph/report was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph/reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.

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