Defense Needs for FutureInformation Assurance Standards

John James

John-James@usma.edu

“Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered. Know the ground, know the

weather; your victory will then be total”*

* The Art of War by Sun Tzu , Translated by Samuel B. Griffith, Page 129

“We need improved information assurance standards to enable joint interoperability”**

** GEN Paul Kern, CG, AMC, plenary speaker, IEEE Information Assurance Workshop, West Point, NY, 18 June 2003

Contents

• Complex system representation– Static models of dynamic systems

– Adaptive models of dynamic systems

• Trustworthiness of military information systems– If you are on the net, you are trusted

– Accreditation is done at the lowest level of the network

• Future military information systems requirements– The implications of autonomous combat vehicles

– Military networks will change even more rapidly than today

• Characteristics of standards for future military systems– Adaptive accreditation of networks of devices

Complex System Representation

• Static models of dynamic systems– Discrete components – Continuous components– Multiple time and spatial scales– Presence of at least one equilibrium at each model level

• Adaptive models of dynamic systems– Discrete components – Continuous components– Multiple time and spatial scales– Presence of at least one equilibrium at each model level– Models adapt (evolve) as system dynamics change

Trustworthiness of Military Information Systems

• If you are on the net, you are trusted– Networks operate at different levels of security– Building gateways (guards) between networks

operating at different security levels is difficult

• Accreditation is done at the lowest level of the network– Network components (vehicles, workstations, servers,

switches, routers …) are accredited– Detecting if a network has been compromised remains

problematic

Future Military Information Systems Requirements

• The implications of autonomous combat vehicles– How does a machine “understand” commander’s intent?

– As elements of the situation (constraints) change, how will the machine adapt a current plan to meet the commander’s intent?

• Military networks will change even more rapidly than today– Military networks “move” with the force

– As the tempo of operations increase, the rate at which the network architecture must adapt will increase

• Insufficient to look only at Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Authentication, and Non-repudiation

Characteristics of standards for future military systems

• Standard for accreditation of complex adaptive systems– Multiple time scales

– Multiple spatial scales

– Representation of system architecture (ADL)

– Representation of system interfaces (IDL)

• Consideration of standards attributes for accreditation of military information systems (next 7 slides consider accrediting a feedback process)

State estimation and reactive control

Current to Future Force“The Joint Operations Concepts … builds on the goal of Full Spectrum Dominance: the defeat of any adversary or control of any situation across the full range of military operations. Full Spectrum Dominance is based on the ability to sense, understand, decide and act faster than an adversary in any situation”*

* The Way Ahead , http://www.army.mil/thewayahead/foreword.html , Pages 5-6

The higher levels of the joint force system architecture

The tactical level of the system architecture

Information Assurance Processes

OFF-LINE VALIDATION ON-LINE VERIFICATIONDIS

CRETE MODEL U

PDATE

CONTINUOUS M

ODEL UPDATE

SYST

EM S

TATE

SYSTEM O

PTIMALIT

Y

SECURITYSERVICES

TRANSMISSION

STORAGE

PROCESSING

INFORMATIONSTATES

CONFIDENTIALITY

INTEGRITY

AVAILABILITY

AUTHENTICATION

NON-REPUDIATION

PROTECTION

DETECTION

REACTION

SECURITYMAINTENANCE

TECHNOLOGY

POLICIES AND PRACTICES

PEOPLE

SECURITYCOUNTER

MEASURES

OP

ER

AT

ION

AL

AR

CH

ITE

CT

UR

E

SYST

EM

SA

RC

HIT

EC

TU

RE

TE

CH

NIC

AL

AR

CH

ITE

CT

UR

E

Accreditation processes occur over time

INFORMATIONDOMINANCE

SERVICES

SITUATION-ASSESSMENT SUPPORT

MILITARY-DECISION-MAKING-PROCESS SUPPORT

TRUTH-MAINTENANCE SUPPORT

DISCRETE M

ODEL UPDATE

CONTINUOUS M

ODEL UPDATE

SYST

EM S

TATE

SYSTEM O

PTIMALIT

Y

OFF-LINE VALIDATION ON-LINE VERIFICATIONDIS

CRETE MODEL U

PDATE

CONTINUOUS M

ODEL UPDATE

SYST

EM S

TATE

SYSTEM O

PTIMALIT

Y

SECURITYSERVICES

TRANSMISSION

STORAGE

PROCESSING

INFORMATIONSTATES

CONFIDENTIALITY

INTEGRITY

AVAILABILITY

AUTHENTICATION

NON-REPUDIATION

PROTECTION

DETECTION

REACTION

SECURITYMAINTENANCE

TECHNOLOGY

POLICIES AND PRACTICES

PEOPLE

SECURITYCOUNTER

MEASURES

SYST

EM

SA

RC

HIT

EC

TU

RE

TE

CH

NIC

AL

AR

CH

ITE

CT

UR

E

INFORMATIONDOMINANCE

SERVICES

SITUATION-ASSESSMENT SUPPORT

MILITARY-DECISION-MAKING-PROCESS SUPPORT

TRUTH-MAINTENANCE SUPPORT

DISCRETE M

ODEL UPDATE

CONTINUOUS M

ODEL UPDATE

SYST

EM S

TATE

SYSTEM O

PTIMALIT

Y

Archi

tect

ure c

ompo

nent

s and

para

met

er v

alue

s cha

nge o

ver t

ime

Info

rmat

ion

Ass

uran

ce s

ervi

ces

who

se

valu

es (

stat

es)

chan

ge o

ver

tim

e

SERVICES

SERVICES

SERVICES

The Technical Architecture

Joint Forces Information Architecture

SystemsSystemsArchitectureArchitecture

TechnicalTechnicalArchitectureArchitecture

OperationalOperationalArchitectureArchitecture

Operational Architecture (OA) is the totalaggregation of missions, functions, tasks,information requirements, and businessrules

Technical Architecture is the “buildingcodes” upon which systems are based

Systems Architecture is the physicalimplementation of the OA, the layout andrelationship of systems andcommunications

JointJointInteroperabilityInteroperability

Summary

• Critical infrastructure processes (such as military operations) have discrete and continuous components

• Understanding complex dynamical processes requires modeling both discrete and continuous components

• Future standards should support adaptive accreditation of systems that enable meeting enterprise process goals (such as commander’s intent)