On Cyber: Towards an Operational Art for Cyber Conflict

On Cyber is a groundbreaking work that fuses information security and military science to lay the foundation of an operational art for cyberspace operations. Hundreds of books have been written on the tactics of cybersecurity and dozens have been written that discuss the strategic implications of cyber conflict. But missing is a book that links the two. On Cyber fills that gap.

After millennia of conflict, traditional kinetic war fighting is highly refined and captured in mature and vetted military doctrine. Cyber operations, however is constantly evolving and affords tremendous benefits alongside significant challenges. Nations around the world have raced to build cyber organizations and capabilities, but are struggling to employ cyber operations to their benefit. Some have stumbled, while others have had dramatic impact on the battlefield and global geopolitics. At the same time, companies and even individuals are now facing nation state and nation state enabled threat actors in cyberspace while their governments remain apparently powerless to protect them.

Whether you are a network defender or cyber operator, On Cyber is a seminal book and the lessons you learn will help you do your job better. Importantly, network defenders will understand how nation-state threat actors think, organize, operate, and target your organization. Cyber operators will gain a glimpse into the future of cyber doctrine.

The authors are perhaps the best two people to author such an ambitious work, having served on the faculty of West Point for a combined 20 years, participated in military cyber operations and training, helped architect the U.S. Army’s Cyber Branch, and together possess more than 50 years of military experience.

Gregory Conti ran West Point's cybersecurity research and education programs for almost a decade and is currently Director of Research at IronNet Cybersecurity. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and is the author of Security Data Visualization (No Starch Press) and Googling Security (Addison-Wesley) as well as over 70 articles and papers covering cyber warfare, online privacy, usable security, and security data visualization. Greg has served as Officer in Charge of a forward deployed expeditionary cyber team, acted as a Senior Advisor in the US Cyber Command Commander's Action Group, and co-created US Cyber Command's flagship Joint Advanced Cyber Warfare Course (JACWC). He has spoken at numerous security conferences, including Black Hat, DEFCON, HOPE, ShmooCon, RSA, the NATO Conference on Cyber Conflict, and numerous academic conferences. His work can be found at www.gregconti.com and @cyberbgone

David Raymond is on faculty at Virginia Tech, where he teaches computer networking and cybersecurity courses and runs a cybersecurity research lab for graduate students and undergraduates studying computer science and computer engineering. He is also Director of the Virginia Cyber Range and serves as deputy to the Virginia Tech CISO, helping lead security efforts for the university network. David holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and taught West Point's capstone course in cybersecurity for four years. David created West Point's cyber-competition team, and currently serves as faculty advisor to Virginia Tech's student Cybersecurity club. He has published over 25 papers and articles on topics including computer architecture, wireless security, online privacy, and cyber warfare, and has spoken at academic and industry conferences, including Black Hat, RSA, ShmooCon, and the NATO Conference on Cyber Conflict.