Realizing Forward Defense in the Cyber Domain

TL;DR

This paper proposes an architecture for forward defense in cyberspace, aiming to counter adversarial actions early, but highlights the need for further research, design analysis, and policy development to operationalize it.

Contribution

It introduces a novel architecture for forward cyber defense and discusses the necessary steps to make it operational, including research and policy considerations.

Findings

Proposed a forward defense architecture for cyberspace

Identified key challenges in operationalizing the architecture

Outlined future research and policy needs

Abstract

With the recognition of cyberspace as an operating domain, concerted effort is now being placed on addressing it in the whole-of-domain manner found in land, sea, undersea, air, and space domains. Among the first steps in this effort is applying the standard supporting concepts of security, defense, and deterrence to the cyber domain. This paper presents an architecture that helps realize forward defense in cyberspace, wherein adversarial actions are repulsed as close to the origin as possible. However, substantial work remains in making the architecture an operational reality including furthering fundamental research cyber science, conducting design trade-off analysis, and developing appropriate public policy frameworks.