Toward Linking Information Assurance and Air and Missile Defense Mission Metrics

Abstract

With the growing reliance on net-centric warfare, understanding the effect of information operations (IO) on the overall mission becomes increasingly important. Our research seeks to develop metrics that provide insight into the missionlevel effect of IO. We approach this goal by proposing comprehensive mission success metrics that provide a vehicle to analyze correlation with proposed information metrics. A quantitative analysis of relationships among information and mission metrics yields an ability to predict mission effect based on activity in the information space. This in turn may drive the derivation of operational requirements and the development of technology and strategy to better assure the mission. This paper presents initial progress toward identifying promising links between missionlevel metrics and information metrics, as well as insights into potential applications, such as a combat system that adapts to information degradation. I. MOTIVATIONAs the defense community continues to shift toward netcentric warfare, it becomes increasingly important to understand the effect of information operations (IO) on the overall mission. IO uses tactics such as electronic warfare and computer network operations to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp adversarial human and automated decision making, while protecting our own [1]. Collaboration among units within a net-centric force yields improved performance, but requires an increased reliance on communication networks and information exchange. During network attacks, this reliance may present an Achilles heel.Our research seeks to build a quantitative understanding of the relationships among IO actions and mission effects. Traditional risk assessment analyzes attack impact and likelihood of occurrence [2][3][4][5], but it remains difficult to quantify mission-level impact. Several recent research endeavors have sought to comprehend the relationship between information attack and mission impact [6][7][8][9][10]. Recently, we investigated methods to quantify the impact of IO on Air and Missile Defense (AMD) force-level mission performance [11]. This research developed a simulation-based approach to measure the impact of information attacks on AMD performance. We also made initial progress toward identifying mid-level metrics that could link events in the information space to mission-level effects. Such analysis yields an ability to predict the effects of information attacks and identify requirements for mitigation. Decision makers can use these analysis techniques to drive information assurance (IA) investments and requirements based on an understanding of how proposed mitigations will affect mission performance.In this paper, we focus on metric development and its applications. We propose improvements to previously identified mission success metrics and develop additional concepts for information metrics that link IO and mission effect. We discuss our quantitative analysis approach and simulation environment. We also introduce potential applications for analysis...