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Performance Impact of Connectivity Restrictions and Increased Vulnerability Presence on Automated Attack Graph Generation
"The current generation of network vulnerability detection software uses databases of known vulnerabilities and scans target networks for these weaknesses. The results can be voluminous and difficult to assess. Thus, the success of this technology has created a need for software to aid in network vulnerability analysis. Although research has shown the effectiveness of automated attack graph generation tools in displaying potential attack paths in a network, research involving the performance of these tools has been limited. The performance impact of connectivity restrictions and the number of vulnerabilities present on a network for these tools is not well understood. Using empirical testing, we have collected quantitative data using CAULDRON, an attack graph generation tool developed at George Mason University, on a collection of simulated networks defined to modulate connectivity at certain points in our networks and represent the number of vulnerabilities present per node. By defining our model to include sets of nodes, which allow connectivity from all nodes to all vulnerable nodes in the set; the number of nodes present in each set, the number of connections between sets; and the number of vulnerabilities per node as our variables, we are able to observe the performance impact on CAULDRON of both connectivity restrictions and the increased presence of vulnerabilities in our networks. The effect of these variables on processing time and memory usage is presented and can be used as a metric to assess the scalability of this tool within various customer environments."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Information Systems Security Studies and Research
Irvine, Cynthia E.; Levin, Timothy E.; Cullum, James
2007-03
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Maritime Threat Response
"In the twenty-first century, the threat of asymmetric warfare in the form of terrorism is one of the most likely direct threats to the United States homeland. It has been recognized that perhaps the key element in protecting the continental United States from terrorist threats is obtaining intelligence of impending attacks in advance. Enormous amounts of resources are currently allocated to obtaining and parsing such intelligence. However, it remains a difficult problem to deal with such attacks once intelligence is obtained. In this context, the Maritime Threat Response Project has applied Systems Engineering processes to propose different cost-effective System of Systems (SoS) architecture solutions to surface-based terrorist threats emanating from the maritime domain. The project applied a five-year time horizon to provide near-term solutions to the prospective decision makers and take maximum advantage of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions and emphasize new Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) for existing systems. Results provided insight into requirements for interagency interactions in support of Maritime Security and demonstrated the criticality of timely and accurate intelligence in support of counter-terror operations."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Kessler, Andrew; Shewfelt, Michael; Davis, Jennifer
2006-06
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Joint Fire Support in 2020: Development of a Future Joint Fires Systems Architecture for Immediate, Unplanned Targets
"The United States military has continually strived to develop systems and procedures that attempt to maximize the effectiveness and improve the collaborative effects of fire support across the spectrum of warfare. Despite improvements in the interoperability of the Department of Defense service components, there continue to be difficulties involved with executing emergent Joint Fires in a timely manner in support of the commander. In this context, the Joint Fire Support in 2020 project applied systems engineering procedures and principles to develop functional, physical, and operational architectures that maximize rapid battlefield effects through efficient target provider pairings. The unplanned, immediate joint fire support requests, and the architectures that enable the rapid pairing and tasking of fire support providers to fulfill those requests, were the emphasis of the study. Through modeling, simulation, and qualitative assessments of existing and planned command and control systems and organizations, a Centralized Joint Fire Support Network that incorporates and consolidates the various cross-service fire support functions, was chosen as the preferred evolutionary development path to a fully Distributed Joint Fire Support Network. The Project Team recommended several doctrinal, organizational, training, tactics, and materiel acquisition (DOTMLPF) solutions and identified areas of continued effort and study."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Gabriel, J. Tyler; Bartel, Matthew; Dorrough, Grashawn J.
2006-12
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Expeditionary Warfare--Force Protection
"In 2003, the Systems Engineering and Analysis students were tasked to develop a system of systems conceptual solution to provide force protection for the Sea Base conceptualized in the 2002 Expeditionary Warfare study. The Systems Engineering and Analysis Team used the Systems Engineering and Management process as the primary methodology to complete this multidisciplinary task. Survivability was identified as the most critical factor for evaluating the protection of the Sea Base and its transport assets. Threats to the Sea Base were reviewed, analyzed, and prioritized. System design and analysis focused on preliminary analyses of various sensors, search concepts, and weapons. These preliminary analyses identified capability gaps that were translated into functional concepts and proposed architectures for detailed modeling and analysis. These proposed architectures were identified as either Point or Distributed. In order to adequately determine the relative performance of the proposed architectures generated by the team, a thorough and systematic design of experiments was developed and applied in the Naval Simulation System and EXTEND. Based on the results obtained, the Systems Engineering and Analysis Team determined that a Distributed Sensor and Weapons architecture would significantly increase the survivability of future Expeditionary Warfare forces."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Higgins, Eric John; Higgs, Ronald Leroy; Parkins, Gregory Rodger
2004-01
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Analysis of Three Kernel-Based Multilevel Security Architectures
"Various system architectures have been proposed for highly robust enforcement of multilevel security (MLS). This paper provides an analysis of the relative merits of three architectural types--one based on a traditional separation kernel, another based on a security kernel, and a third based on a high-robustness separation kernel. We show that by taking advantage of commonly available hardware features, and incorporating security features required by the nascent Separation Kernel Protection Profile (SKPP), the latter architecture may provide several aspects of security and assurance that are not achievable with the other two."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Irvine, Cynthia E.; Levin, Timothy E.; Nguyen, Thuy D.
2006-08-25
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Maritime Preposition Force Ship 2010
"A systems engineering approach to the design of a ship which will satisfy the requirements for a Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) for the year 2010 and beyond is presented. This ship, the MPF 2010, will provide the means by which the United States Marine Corps will be able to successfully employ the tenets of Operational Maneuver From the Sea (OMFTS) and the Ship-to-Objective Maneuver (STOM) against an objective. The current Maritime Prepositioning Ship (MPS) squadrons are used to preposition supplies, vehicles, and equipment throughout the world for use by a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) of Marine Expeditionary Force - Forward, MEF (FWD) size, in times of crisis. However, these squadrons presently require that a secure airfield and port (or beachhead) be available so that the prepositioned MPS assets can be offloaded and married with arriving MAGTF personnel ashore. As such, the current MPS squadrons do not support the concepts of OMFTS and STOM. The MPF 2010 will provide the capability to embark a MEF (FWD), marry the MEF (FWD) with its prepositioned equipment while en route to the objective, and then act as sea base from which it will be able to employ air, ground, and amphibious assets to project power ashore."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Calvano, C. N.; Harney, Robert C.
1999-04-19
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NPS to Host Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Symposium
Maritime domain awareness and protection are issues of vital importance to our nation and our neighbors. Due to the sheer size and scope of this issue, comprehensive threat and vulnerability assessments are not currently available. In an effort to address these concerns, NPS will host a Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Symposium from 15-17 June 2004 in Monterey, To identify weaknesses, discern the intensity of potential dangers, and help focus protection and forward action, it is essential to conduct thorough vulnerability and threat assessments. It is hoped that the MDP-TF symposium will contribute to this process and serve as a foundation for future efforts. Results of the symposium will provide input for both systems engineering and maritime awareness working groups. Presentations, discussions, vignettes, panels, and any questionnaires that are part of the symposium will be captured, packaged, and delivered to participating agencies and MDP stakeholders as an initial product evidencing the great work that is taking place literally throughout the world. EVENTS
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
2004-03
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'In Defense of the Nation': Terror and Reform in Saudi Arabia
The May 12, 2003 attacks in Riyadh on Western housing compounds and the ensuing summer-long series of anti-terrorist operations mounted by the Saudis against Al Qaeda leave no doubt about the intent of the Saudi government to seriously address its terrorist problem. The May 12 attacks constituted a wake-up call to the House of Saud, just as the September 11th attacks awakened the United States to the global nature of threat posed by Al Qaeda. The extent of the Al Qaeda network in the Kingdom, which apparently exists throughout the country from Riyadh to Medina to Qasim and the Eastern Provinces, serves as a reminder that Al Qaeda continues to pursue a core mission as articulated by Osama bin Laden: to destabilize the Kingdom and remove the House of Saud from power. If Iraq now constitutes the "central front" in the global war on terror, then the Kingdom itself must be regarded as one of the related and important geographic theaters in that war. This document examines the battle on terror within the kingdom and how it is intertwined with forces on the domestic political landscape maneuvering to address political and economic reform. With the world's dependence on oil expected to grow by 40 percent over the next 20 years, we can expect events inside the Kingdom during this critical period to resonate around the globe.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Contemporary Conflict
Russell, James A. (James Avery), 1958-
2003-10-03
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Cyberterror: Prospects and Implications
In this 1999 report for the Intelligence Agency Office for Counterterrorism Analysis the authors posit that although a reality, Cyberterrorism - beyond annoyance hacking -- is perhaps further out-of-reach from most terrorist groups than many believe. In their words, "pure cyberterrorism is a thing of the future. For the present, terrorists are much more likely to pursue cyberterror as an ancillary tool," even if with increasing effectiveness.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for the Study of Terrorism and Irregular Warfare
Nelson, Bill; Choi, Rodney; Iacobucci, Michael . . .
1999-10
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Future of Armed Resistance: Cyberterror? Mass Destruction?
In May, 2000, a conference organized by the Center on Terrorism and Irregular Warfare of the Naval Postgraduate School, with the assistance of the Centre de Recherche sur les Menaces Criminelles Contemporaines of the University of Paris (II) convened to examine the decision making process that leads sub-state groups engaged in armed resistance to develop new operational methods. The conference was particularly concerned to understand whether such groups would engage in cyberterrorism, including the conditions under which they might try to cause mass disruption of information systems. The conference was unprecedented in that its participants included former and active members of terrorist groups, as well as a hacker, to offer perspectives on new security measures and initiatives.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for the Study of Terrorism and Irregular Warfare
Tucker, David
2000-05-15
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, August 2004
This publication looks at several of the security and sweeping issues applicable to the Naval Postgraduate School and all related personnel. This issue highlights the accomplishments of the June Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Symposium and provides some information on the upcoming 18-19 August MDP Symposium.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2004-08
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Muslim Internet Service Providers - Cyberterrorist Highways
This paper explores why radical Islamist terrorist organizations, including Usamah Bin Mohammad Bin Laden's (UBL) widespread terrorist organization Al- Qaida (The Base), would use Muslim Internet Service providers, to carry out net war against targeted nation-states. Hackers range the spectrum from complete amateurs at the bottom, to semi-serious part time hackers in the middle, to the Internet terrorist at the top. When you couple this individual's technical expertise with computers to a belief in a cause, such as radical Islam, you may have a cyberterrorist with the skills, knowledge, capability, and intent, to cause catastrophic disruption when and wherever he chooses. Woven into cybergang cultures are terrorist organizations that realize the capability of using cyberterror to strike anonymously at their enemies.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Craddock, Douglas W.
2003
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, June 2004
This special edition outlines the two symposia scheduled during the month of June. The first event is the "Maritime Domain Protection Mini-Symposium," scheduled for June 10-11. The second event is a "Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Symposium," scheduled for June 15-17.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2004-06
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Non-Traditional Forms of Intelligence
"Report considers the new requirements for non-traditional forms of intelligence. Emphasis on new scenarios which require specialists in new forms of intelligence and areas of expertise. Due to the pace of rapid change and wide spectrum of threats, traditional attempts to determine intentions may not work. Authors recommend prioritized review of potential enemy capabilities with emphasis on potential military capability (population, geography, economics, technology for military potential capability), and more emphasis on long-range intelligence using deductive vice inductive approach. Report addresses current intelligence emphasis on technology and proliferation, and recommends identifying countries bent on acquiring new capabilities, what countries have the surplus capital to make such investments, and what levels they can internalize and absorb. Paralleling any effort to identify potential customers must be an economic intelligence program to delineate what is readily available on the open marketplace. Authors also conclude that there are no simple or quick fixes and that reorganization of the intelligence community is not the answer, but may be part of it."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Department of National Security Affairs
Tritten, James John
1993-08-30
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, July 2004
"Recent events have highlighted the importance and necessity of developing Maritime Domain Protection (MDP) and homeland security. Essential components of this development include the evolution of new doctrine, capabilities, and policies. Each of these components requires analysis and research in order to understand the second and third order effects, as well as the discovery of best practices to accelerate their successful implementation."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2004-07
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, March 2004
This issue highlights the upcoming Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Symposium to be hosted by NPS. "Organized as a symposium vice a conference, this event is
designed to facilitate an exchange of ideas on where we are regarding vulnerability and threat assessment, both in forward areas and at home."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2004-03
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Cautionary Note Regarding the Data Integrity Capacity of Certain Secure Systems
"The need to provide standard commercial-grade productivity applications as the general purpose user interface to high-assurance data processing environments is compelling, and has resulted in proposals for several different types of trusted systems. We characterize some of these systems as a class of architecture. We discuss the general integrity property that systems can only be trusted to manage modifiable data whose integrity is at or below that of their interface components. One effect of this property is that in terms of integrity these hybrid-security systems are only applicable to processing environments where the integrity of data is consistent with that of low-assurance software. Several examples are provided of hybrid-security systems subject to these limitations."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Irvine, Cynthia E.; Levin, Timothy E.
2002
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Optimizing Electric Grid Design under Asymmetric Threat (III)
"This document is the final report on the project entitled 'Homeland Security Research and Technology Proposal (Optimizing Electric Grid Design Under Asymmetric Threat),' sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Domestic Preparedness. This research has developed new optimization models and algorithms, embedded in a graphical user interface with supporting database, to assess the vulnerability of electric power grids to physical attacks by terrorists, and to identify measures to reduce disruptions caused by such attacks. Such measures might include improving security of key infrastructure elements and adding redundant grid capacity. This report consolidates our previous findings and presents our prototypic tool VEGA (Vulnerability of Electric Power Grids Analyzer). We demonstrate VEGA on two U.S. power grids, ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and WECC (Western Electricity Coordinated Council). We also show that there exists sensitive information available from public sources that could be used to plan physical attacks on the power grid."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Salmeron, Javier; Wood, Kevin; Baldick, Ross
2004-03
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Diagnostic Approach to Building Collaborative Capacity in an Interagency Context
"Federal Acquisition Reform has consistently called for more and better collaboration among participating organizations. Experience shows, however, that inter-organizational collaboration can be difficult at best. Our research focuses on imperatives of successful collaboration and aims to assist organizations in diagnosing their collaborative capacity. Based on prior research with homeland security organizations, we offer a model of inter-organizational collaborative capacity grounded in a systems perspective. We then identify enablers and barriers that contribute to collaborative capacity. A diagnostic process based on the established practices of organization development is offered to guide the design of tailored assessments of collaborative capacity. We present a comprehensive set of both interview and survey questions, based on our model, which can be used in creating a collaborative capacity audit. The ability to diagnose collaborative capacity encourages literacy around collaboration and assists leaders in determining mechanisms for developing their organization's collaborative capacity. Finally, we describe the future plans for validating these assessment tools."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Jansen, Erik; Thomas, Gail Fann; Hocevar, Susan Page
2006-09-25
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, May 2005
The May issue of the SITREP newsletter includes an article on a WMD destruction drill held in Marina, California on April 9, 2005. It also includes a notice that the results of the cross-campus integrated study on maritime domain protection in the Straits of Malacca will be presented on June 1-2, 2005. Finally, it includes information on the now-available Dudley Knox Library - Homeland Security Digital Library.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2005-05
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, February 2005
This volume of the SITREP newsletter contains two articles: one on Project ATHENA, and one from a student perspective about countering terrorism from the sea.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2005-02
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, June 2005
This issue includes articles on the Maritime Domain Protection Research group director's retirement, and an operations analysis of an MDA and MDP problem.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2005-06
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, July 2005
This issue provides information on port security in the following two articles "Findings on Maritime Domain Protection in the Straits of Malacca" and "The Port Report."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2005-06
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Cost-Benefit Analysis of Security at the Naval Postgraduate School
"After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, U.S. military bases tightened security. The heightened measures included increased ID checks, raising security force numbers, and restricted parking and use of certain roads and previously common areas. The logic behind the increased security may seem apparent, but what is striking is how little analysis has been done on the costs and potential benefits. This project weighs the costs and benefits of security at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Turner, Curtis W.; Butts, Kent Hughes
2003-12
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SITREP: The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter, September 2005
This issue of The NPS Maritime Domain Protection Newsletter includes the following articles: "The Port Report - Scott City, Missouri and Portland, Oregon" and "Language Analysis and Homeland Security".
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Maritime Defense and Security Research Program
2005-09
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Building Collaborative Capacity for Homeland Security
"The purpose of this project was to build a foundation of relevant knowledge about interorganizational collaboration that would assist local, state and federal officials in their management of activities related to Homeland Security. Academics and practitioners stress the criticality of coordinating the efforts of federal, state, local and private sectors. Some barriers to interorganizational collaboration include: missions that are at odds with one another, unclear roles and responsibilities lack of accountability. Managers of homeland security will need to find ways to overcome these barriers and work together more effectively. This project is meant to discover the factors that contribute to and inhibit collaboration. The first phase of the research focused on the development of a conceptual model of interagency collaboration. Phase II was an action-based workshop to gather data from a group of 30 senior homeland security managers. Nine major topics that were central to interagency collaboration were identified in Phase III. We anticipate that these deliverables will be used for future workshops, seminars, short class modules or longer graduate-level courses. Future plans include developing a diagnostic survey. This diagnostic tool could be used by HLS organizations to evaluate their current collaborative capacity and, based on this assessment, establish action plans to improve their collaborative capacity."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Jansen, Erik; Thomas, Gail Fann; Hocevar, Susan Page
2004-11-01
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Systems Engineering Analysis: Tackling the M-IED Problem
This presentation from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) entitled "Systems Engineering Analysis (SEA-14) Tackling the M-IED Problem" provides an overview on options for mitigation of Maritime Improvised Explosive Devices (M-IED). The presentation occurred on December 11, 2008 at NPS as part of a Systems Engineering Analysis capstone project presentation.
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
2008-12-11
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Investigation of the Potential Material Solution for Utilizing an Unmanned Aerial System to Protect Off-Shore Oil Platforms from Surface Threats
"This paper describes a potential material solution for the utilization of an unmanned aerial system to identify, discriminate, and engage potential surface threats to off-shore oil platforms. The intent of the research effort was to identify how US maritime forces are presently deployed to protect off-shore oil platforms from sabotage, takeover, or destruction and to determine if an unmanned aerial system could be utilized to enhance that effort and perhaps reduce the manpower requirements. While numerous possible threats exist including aerial and sub-surface attack, the present study concentrated on surface threats. A disciplined systems engineering approach was utilized to determine the most cost-effective solution that meets key stakeholder requirements for identifying, engaging, and neutralizing potential threats in a time-critical manner through either lethal or nonlethal means. The initial capability requirements are decomposed into functions to be performed and the functions are evaluated through consideration of either fixed-wing, rotary-wing, or lighter-than-air platforms using standard systems engineering tools and methods to determine the most cost-effective solution that meets stakeholders needs. Architectural views and functional block diagrams are provided which meet stakeholder requirements and a preferred solution is provided along with recommendations for further research."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Bartolomeo, Peter; McCartney, William; Plessinger, Jack
2010-09-21
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Civil-Military Medicine: On Dangerous Ground
"Practitioners and scholars alike have noted that the rising incidence of civil-military medical and health assistance increases the need for better operational coordination and cooperation among the actors in this sector of humanitarian assistance (HA). In light of this growing need, the Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies (CSRS) at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, organized an educational game to focus on the challenges of providing medical and health services in environments subject to major natural disasters and conflict. The purpose of the game was to allow the various medical communities (non-governmental and international organizations, governmental agencies, and armed forces) engaged in delivering health services in emergency situations to deepen their mutual understanding of operational planning and implementation. […] This report highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each community in responding to humanitarian medical crises, as well as the key lessons learned during the course of the game. The report follows the chronology of the game. Each day, a representative of one of the participating medical/health communities introduced their community's perspective on the issues raised in complex health emergencies. The three papers by Drs. Lawry, Tarantino and Selanikio cover these presentations. These are followed in turn by a brief overview of the game scenario that followed each presentation, and then a synopsis of the key points arising out of participants' discussions of the simulations."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies
Clunan, Anne L.
2006-03
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Information Operation/Information Warfare Modeling and Simulation
"Information Operations have always been a part of warfare. However, this aspect of warfare is having ever-greater importance as forces rely more and more on information as an enabler. Modem information systems make possible very rapid creation, distribution, and utilization of information. These same systems nave vulnerabilities that can be exploited by enemy forces. Information force-on-force is important and complex. New tools and procedures are needed for this warfare arena. As these tools are developed, it will be necessary to provide education and training into their use. This project combines research to develop capabilities combined with concurrent development of instruction materials."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Buettner, Raymond R.
2000-06
