Cyber Operations

Section IIICyberspace Environment and Tools Conclusion

Election machines and industrial control systems (ICS) use technologies, and supporting supply chains, that are vulnerable to cyber‐attack. IT gear suppliers, formerly commodity gadget makers, are now stakeholders in our collective security. In a recent example, Microsoft is playing a developing role in the cyber thread of the Ukraine war.

Being a twenty‐first‐century war, the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, while still relying on planes, tanks, and other kinetic weapons, now has a cyber element from beginning to end. Because of this cyber footprint, Microsoft is now a key observer and participant in the campaign, publishing a survey that includes key insights

The Russian invasion relies in part on a cyber strategy that includes at least three distinct and sometimes coordinated efforts – destructive cyberattacks within Ukraine, network penetration and espionage outside Ukraine, and cyber influence operations targeting people around the world.

(Smith, 2022)

As recently as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, strategic and tactical assessments were pretty exclusively products of think tanks (e.g., Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA), RAND, etc.); limited insight or input from traditional defense contractors. However, due to the scope and scale of cyber operations, operating system, and networking companies, “outsiders” with deep technical specialties, the folks who designed and developed this new domain of conflict, are ...