Written by Kenneth Geers, U.S. Rep to the Cyber Center of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia

National security leadership must dramatically improve its understanding of the technology, law, and ethics of cyber attack and defense, so that it can competently factor cyber warfare into all stages of national security planning.

Strategy

1. The Internet is vulnerable
2. High return on investment
3. The Inadequacy of cyber defense
4. Plausible deniability
5. Participation of non-state actors

Tactics

1. Espionage
2. Propaganda
3. Denial-of-service
4. Data modification
5. Infrastructure manipulation

National critical infrastructures, most of which are in private hands, are increasingly connected to the Internet. However, because instant response is often required, and associated hardware may have insufficient computing resources, security may not be robust. The management of electricity may be especially important for national security planners to evaluate, because electricity has no substitute, and all other infrastructures depend on it.

All political and military conflicts now have a cyber dimension, whose size and impact are difficult to predict. The amplifying power of the Internet means that future victories in cyberspace could translate into victories on the ground, creating new, critical questions for national security planners to answer.
Much more at the links...