A Cyber-based Behavioral Model

Abstract

While long considered an important aspect of strategic and theater planning, situational awareness (SA) is the linchpin to both cyber planning and execution. As stated in Joint doctrine, before military activities in the information environment can be accurately and effectively planned, the “state” of the environment must be understood. At its core, cyber situational awareness requires understanding the environment in terms of how information, events, and actions will impact goals and objectives, both now and in the near future. Joint Information Operations (IO) doctrine defines three layers of information inherent to this; physical, informational, and cognitive. While a fair amount of time and effort has been focused on the physical and informational aspects of cyber situational awareness, very little emphasis has been placed on the cognitive layer as it relates to cyber space and how best to model and analyze it. This research examines aspects of the cognitive level by defining a cyber-based behavioral model contingent on the activities a user performs while on the Internet. We believe this is foundational to completely defining a cyber situational awareness model, thus providing commanders and decision makers a more comprehensive and real time view of the environment in which they are operating.