Military cyber defense

[reds]

Hey,

I'm extremely fascinated with all things internet related and was wondering if the CF has anything similar to the US Airforce Cyber Defense. For that matter, does the Canadian military have any involvement with network maintenance, sustainability, protection of government systems? My reaction would be that it's likely part of the intelligence wing of the government rather than the military.

The reason this intrigues me is because my undergrad involved studying the political maintenance of Internet infrastructure as a political science student. We never breached any military discussion though...which leads me to wonder...who the heck protects these networks?

Thanks!

Dave

 

[Michael OLeary]

DND has an internal information network that is absolutely impenetrable.  Many with years of experience working within the network often confess a complete inability to find any information related to specific search parameters, even when they've seen the data before.  DND's computer systems are heavily shielded by a layer of institutional incompetence which effectively deflects any attempts to penetrate and understand its inner workings.

 

[dustinm]

Hey,

I'm extremely fascinated with all things internet related and was wondering if the CF has anything similar to the US Airforce Cyber Defense. For that matter, does the Canadian military have any involvement with network maintenance, sustainability, protection of government systems? My reaction would be that it's likely part of the intelligence wing of the government rather than the military.

The reason this intrigues me is because my undergrad involved studying the political maintenance of Internet infrastructure as a political science student. We never breached any military discussion though...which leads me to wonder...who the heck protects these networks?

Thanks!

Dave

What you want is the CFNOC, the Canadian Forces Network Operations Centre. Unfortunately everyone seems to be very secretive on details (probably for the best anyway. You don't want the enemy to have access to anything that might allow them to penetrate or damage the network.)

Edit: http://www.img.forces.gc.ca/org/cfi-goi/cfnoc-corfc-eng.asp

 

[reds]

Oh cool.

The source you provided me with allowed me to dig deeper into the government website. I saw the term "Electronic Warfare" in the CFNOC mandate and stumbled upon: http://www.img.forces.gc.ca/org/cfi-goi/cfewc-cgefc-eng.asp

Check this out: "CFEWC is mandated with the maintenance and development of the CF Electronic Warfare Database (CFEWDB). This relational database contains an extensive repository of radar parametric data on a multitude of air, land, and sea platforms and their associated weapon systems."

While this is all intriguing regarding internal military network maintenance, I'm wondering how we contribute on a global scale. I sometimes read Vanguard (god I'm a geek). There's an awesome article: http://www.vanguardcanada.com/CyberWarfareWilms that discusses ground peacekeeping vs. network peacekeeping. Here's a good quote to summarise:

"...as we search to enhance our defence capabilities, cyber warfare represents a field that would suit the strategic requirements of the Canadian military. It is a low cost alternative to rebuilding our military through expensive investments in hardware, and is a unique opportunity to become the peacekeepers of the information domain. It would nicely compliment a niche we have so proudly staked out on the ground."

Seems like the CF is generally behind on electronic warfare though...ack. Personally I believe the next wars will be online or via digital means. Why attack a countries infrastructure by land when you can cripple it just as easily remotely.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Oh cool.

The source you provided me with allowed me to dig deeper into the government website. I saw the term "Electronic Warfare" in the CFNOC mandate and stumbled upon: http://www.img.forces.gc.ca/org/cfi-goi/cfewc-cgefc-eng.asp

Check this out: "CFEWC is mandated with the maintenance and development of the CF Electronic Warfare Database (CFEWDB). This relational database contains an extensive repository of radar parametric data on a multitude of air, land, and sea platforms and their associated weapon systems."

While this is all intriguing regarding internal military network maintenance, I'm wondering how we contribute on a global scale. I sometimes read Vanguard (god I'm a geek). There's an awesome article: http://www.vanguardcanada.com/CyberWarfareWilms that discusses ground peacekeeping vs. network peacekeeping. Here's a good quote to summarise:

"...as we search to enhance our defence capabilities, cyber warfare represents a field that would suit the strategic requirements of the Canadian military. It is a low cost alternative to rebuilding our military through expensive investments in hardware, and is a unique opportunity to become the peacekeepers of the information domain. It would nicely compliment a niche we have so proudly staked out on the ground."

Seems like the CF is generally behind on electronic warfare though...ack. Personally I believe the next wars will be online or via digital means. Why attack a countries infrastructure by land when you can cripple it just as easily remotely.

Thank you for your advice and wise counsel.

I'm a bit worried, myself, that the powers that be may not pay enough attention to the wisdom offered by Vanguard and like journals - staffed, as they no doubt are, by world renowned experts in information operations. I'm afraid too many people are wasting their time reading Sun Tzu, Clausewitz Mahan and Fuller when they should be paying attention to Scott Taylor and, indeed, thoughtful folks like you.

 

[dustinm]

Oh cool.

The source you provided me with allowed me to dig deeper into the government website. I saw the term "Electronic Warfare" in the CFNOC mandate and stumbled upon: http://www.img.forces.gc.ca/org/cfi-goi/cfewc-cgefc-eng.asp

Check this out: "CFEWC is mandated with the maintenance and development of the CF Electronic Warfare Database (CFEWDB). This relational database contains an extensive repository of radar parametric data on a multitude of air, land, and sea platforms and their associated weapon systems."

<snip>

While I'm far from an expert, I just thought I'd try and clarify a few things here. (And if someone with some credentials happens to read these, feel free to chip in;D)

"Electronic Warfare" is different from "Cyber Warfare", and the CFEWDB is somewhat of a misnomer. EW is primarily concerned with electronic devices and things inside the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS.) This includes things such as TV, tel/cellphones, radios, and so on.

The CFEWDB holds "signatures" of various weapons and electronic devices; I might be wrong here but I believe that falls under what is called MASINT, Measurement and Signature Intelligence, as opposed to ELINT (Electronic Intelligence.) Intelligence is the "actionable information" collected and used in operations.

Seems like the CF is generally behind on electronic warfare though...ack. Personally I believe the next wars will be online or via digital means. Why attack a countries infrastructure by land when you can cripple it just as easily remotely.

Unfortunately nobody really knows the capabilities of the CF's Network and Information Operations, so they may very well be quite advanced; the less we know the less our enemies know :camo:

 

[reds]

Campbell: If I came off as being overly opinionated or even pugnacious, it's definitely not intended. You should assume my opinion comes from a civilian perspective, which admittedly may be ill-informed. In which case either ignore or inform me  :

As for Vanguard, I don't necessarily take it's opinion as my own. I just found the article interesting. *Note to self, be less opinionated*

Well at least you gave me the names of some interesting military theorists I can start reading. I've read some Clausewitz and of course Sun Tzu, now for the others.

Sheesh.

Neo Cortex: Ahhh I see now. Yes, that clarifies things for me. Fascinating. Well if I end up joining and becoming involved in this stuff, I guess I might be able to find out. Haha.

 

[aesop081]

EW is primarily concerned with electronic devices and things inside the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS.) This includes things such as TV, tel/cellphones, radios, and so on.

Electronic warfare is defined as "military action to exploit the EM spectrum encompassing : the search for, intercept and identification of EM emissions, the employment of EM energy, including directed energy, to reduce or prevent hostile use of the EM spectrum, and actions to ensure its effective use by freindly forces."

Now ask yourself something : If someone is trying to gain acces to a GoC network through wireless means......isnt that using the EM spectrum ?

Dont get caught too much into labels as both "cyber warfare" ( aka CNA : Computer network attack) and EW are both pillars of the same thing......Information Operations.

I might be wrong here

Indeed.

 

[Antoine]

I thought that was appropriate ( )

Found in the gallery of army.ca

 

[dustinm]

Electronic warfare is defined as "military action to exploit the EM spectrum encompassing : the search for, intercept and identification of EM emissions, the employment of EM energy, including directed energy, to reduce or prevent hostile use of the EM spectrum, and actions to ensure its effective use by freindly forces."

Now ask yourself something : If someone is trying to gain acces to a GoC network through wireless means......isnt that using the EM spectrum ?

Dont get caught too much into labels as both "cyber warfare" ( aka CNA : Computer network attack) and EW are both pillars of the same thing......Information Operations.

Indeed.

Sorry, you beat me to it. I was coming back to edit my post, as I realized I was farther out of my lane than I initially thought :-X Anyway, thanks for clarifying

 

[reds]

Hmmm. I'm definitely learning a lot guys. It's very fascinating. The question is...how does one get into this type of cyber defense work?

On a more theoretical (legal/political) level, when attacks are made on Canadian networks it's not as if the military has any muscle to strike back. Which basically means...cyber warfare is primarily a defensive field.

I guess this is more focused on global Internet communications and the military (network militarisation). I'm wondering if there are any other governments that deploy offensive strategies via the military ie. counter hacking, distributed denial of service etc. Now THAT would be something. I guess that would breach more of the intel side of things, which I have no idea how that works in Canada. *contemplates: is CSIS even a military organisation?*

Sorry, that was a slight tangent. I guess I'm just finding it difficult to understand responsibilities for certain things in the military.

 

[dustinm]

I'll try and stick to what I can back up thistime :

I'm wondering if there are any other governments that deploy offensive strategies via the military ie. counter hacking, distributed denial of service etc. Now THAT would be something.

China has been accused many times of penetrating US defences, most recently the Pentagon and the Electrical Grid (even leaving software behind that would allow them to be controlled later.) See here: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0914/p01s01-woap.html

And Russia orchestrated an attack on Estonia's Internet a while back in retaliation for Estonia moving a monument of a Russian war-hero from a Town Square into a cemetery. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/may/17/topstories3.russia)

*contemplates: is CSIS even a military organisation?*

CSIS is a civilian Intelligence and Security agency. I can't speculate beyond that though, as I know very little about them.

 

[reds]

Haha. Thanks Neo.

Yup, I'm aware of the China/Russia attacks. Very intense. I guess that points to the start of future information wars. Scary (but cool) stuff. Hopefully our military is prepared for it.