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The United States is
vulnerable to Information Warfare attacks because our economic, social,
military, and commercial infrastructures demand timely and accurate as
well as reliable information services. This vulnerability is complicated
by the dependence of our DoD information systems on commercial or
proprietary networks which are readily accessed by both users and
adversaries. The identification of the critical paths and key
vulnerabilities within the information infrastructure is an enormous task.
As stated above, recent advances in information technology have made
information systems easier to use, less expensive, and more available to a
wide spectrum of potential adversaries.
The security of our nation
depends on the survivability, authenticity, and continuity of these DoD
information systems. These systems are vulnerable to external attacks, due
in part to the necessary dependence on commercial systems and the
increased use of the Internet. The survivability, authenticity, and
continuity of DoD information systems is of supreme importance to the
Warfighter. With the increasing amount of concern and Information Warfare
activities requiring rapid responses, it is difficult to ensure that all
appropriate agencies and organizations are given the knowledge and tools
to protect from, react to, and defend against Information Warfare attacks.
"NIACORP provides the experience and capabilities to successfully complete advanced tasks for DOD, Federal, and Commercial customers"
Security mission has evolved
through three very distinct stages: Communications Security (COMSEC),
Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) and Information Assurance (IA). IA
is defined as the set of measures intended to protect and defend
information and information systems by ensuring their availability,
integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. This
includes providing for restoration of information systems by incorporating
protection, detection, and reaction capabilities. Post WWI and the Korean War, COMSEC efforts focused primarily
on cryptography (i.e., designing and building encryption devices to
provide confidentiality for information). The introduction and widespread
use of computers created new demands to protect information exchanges
between interconnected computer systems. This demand created the Computer
Security (COMPUSEC) discipline. With the introduction of COMPUSEC came the
recognition that stand-alone COMSEC and stand-alone COMPUSEC could not
protect information during storage, processing or transfer between
systems. This recognition gave rise to the term INFOSEC and the
information protection mission took on a broader perspective. IA emerged
and focused on the need to protect information during transit, processing,
or storage within complex and/or widely dispersed computers and
communication system networks. IA includes a dynamic dimension where the
network architecture is itself a changing environment, including the
information protection mechanisms that detect attacks and enable a
response to those attacks.
In moving Information
Assurance forward to protect the National Information Infrastructure (NII),
a National Information Assurance Strategy (NIAS) was formed to encourage
mutual cooperation and acceptance of common objectives. This strategy,
built upon the following five cornerstones, articulated the IA pillar
concepts into a national framework that unified the U.S. Government's IA
efforts:
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Cyber security
awareness and education
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Strong
cryptography
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Good
security-enabled commercial information technology
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An enabling global
Security Management Infrastructure
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A civil defense
infrastructure equipped with an attack sensing and warning capability and
coordinated
response mechanisms
In
addition, a Defense-In-Depth strategy was developed to integrate People,
Operations, and Technology capabilities to establish information assurance
(IA) protection across multiple layers and dimensions. Successive layers
of defense will cause an adversary who penetrates or breaks down one
barrier to promptly encounter another Defense-In-Depth barrier, and then
another, until the attack ends.
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