The Mini Tracks for ICCWS
- Cyber Operations in the Global Information Environment
- Digital transformation in information warfare
- The Social Foundations of Information Warfare
- Legal Perspectives to Cyber-Operations and Online Influence Operations
- Digital Data DeceptionÂ
- Interdisciplinary Research in Cybersecurity
- Security in Health Care: Innovations and Challenges for Trustworthy and Reliable Applications
Cyber Operations in the Global Information Environment
 
Mini Track Chair: Dr Stilianos Vidalis, Cyber Operations, University of Hertfordshire, UK Â
The US DoD has defined the Information Environment (IE) as the aggregate of individuals, organizations and systems that collect, process disseminate or act on information. The Global Information Environment (GIE) defies boundaries. It is by far a non-static environment, making use of change as a catalyst in order to address business needs and mission objectives. It consists of a plethora of devices, using diverse and mobile architectures. It is hyper-charged in that every device is performing several roles. It unifies security and defence IEs with civilian IEs.
As the IE became global, so did the Cyber Operators. Instead of operating in national environments with well-defined boundaries, assessing and protecting cyber and kinetic operations, they (Cyber Operators) are now truly operating across all types of boundaries. They are cutting across jurisdictions, having to manage and protect complex interrelationships between tangible and intangible assets. The GIE characteristics also provide challenges for the Cyber Operators to overcome to achieve information superiority. Information superiority is the advantage derived from the ability to collect, process and disseminate an uninterruptible flow of information, while exploiting or denying adversaries to do the same. Information superiority is a state achieved as the result of successful cyber operations. Cyber operations are continuous acts of force in the GIE that can include intelligence and counterintelligence, phycological operations, deception, computer network operations, situational awareness, operational security, information security, physical security and of course risk and threat assessment.
In this track we will discuss the current practice and the future of cyber operations in the Global Information Environment. We will discuss the modern GIE, the socio-political changes that it is influencing and the complex problem of protecting it. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Cyber Operations in the Global Information Environment:
- intelligence and counterintelligence,
- phycological operations and deception,
- computer network operations and situational awareness,
- operational security, information security and physical security
- risk and threat assessment.
Digital transformation in information warfare
Mini Track Chair: Dr Zakariya Belkhamza, Ahmed Bin Mohammed Military College, Qatar
Digital transformation today is affecting every discipline, with potential implications in every decision we make, while information warfare represents a rapidly evolving and defined field of growing such interest for decision-makers and defense planners. Digital transformation is driven through innovation and new business and operating models, powered by a digital workforce that is agile, adaptive, and tech-savvy.
The US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) defines information warfare as “actions taken to achieve information superiority in support of national military strategy by affecting adversary information and information systems while leveraging and protecting our information and information systems.”
Though information warfare is not a new phenomenon, it contains innovative elements due to the effect of technological development, which results in information being disseminated faster and on a larger scale.
In this regard information warfare is exclusively affected by digital transformation where information itself is the weapon. The three general categories of information warfare are offensive, defensive, and exploitative.
The objective of this mini-track is to discuss recent knowledge and research on digital transformation and information warfare. Topics under this mini-track include but are not limited to:
- Digital transformation and information warfare
- Cyberwarfare
- Strategic information warfare
- Artificial intelligence in digital warfare.
- Communication issues in information warfare
- Joint information warfare
- Information warfare over the Internet
- Propaganda and information warfare
- Offensive information warfare
- Defensive information warfare
- Defense information systems
The Social Foundations of Information Warfare
Mini Track Chair: Dr. Jessica Dawson and Dr. Jason C. Brown, Army Cyber Institute, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY Â
 Cultural divisions and inequalities are targets for weaponization within the information domain. Malign actors seeking money, influence, or power can leverage these inequalities for their own benefit. The surveillance economy further enables this weaponization by quantifying, categorizing, and sorting people based on nuances of information not previously accessible without big data and significant computing power. Due to networked connectivity, divisive social issues are not constrained to geographical, political, or temporal boundaries.
In this track we will discuss the future of cultural divisions and inequalities, frameworks to assess the risk or threat of these problems, frameworks to assess the success or failure of misinformation/disinformation campaigns, and recommendations to discover whether there are solutions within and external to the information domain. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Data and frameworks needed to assess risks and threats of cultural divisions and inequalities
- Causes of when an information attack moves “offline” and affects the real world
- Targeted harassment and/or institutional/cultural responses to harassment
- Microtargeting
- Surveillance economy
- Misinformation or Disinformation campaigns – causes, effects, techniques, and solutions
- Weaponization of culture
- Narrative warfare
Legal Perspectives to Cyber-Operations and Online Influence Operations
Mini Track Chair: Trishana Ramluckan, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
An increasing global dependence on powerful technological capabilities together with the disruptive characteristics of cyber-attackers threatens national and international security through a vulnerable Internet. With the growing threat of state-sponsored cyber-operations and influence operations, many countries are developing legislation to deal with online adversaries. This may be based on international and regional guidance. Often the legislation focus is on cyber-crime, while there are attempts at setting international legal guidance for cyber-operations. This mini track aims to highlight the legal perspective at national, regional, and international contexts, and the challenges encountered in the development and acceptance of the relevant laws.
This mini track invites papers that explore the legal aspects to cyber-operations and cyber-security at international and national levels. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Applicability of international law to cyber-operations, influence operations and disinformation.
- National legislation related to cyber-security, cyber-operations, disinformation and deep fakes.
- Legal challenges when dealing with cyber- operations, influence operations, deep fakes and disinformation.
- Development of legislation and policies for cyber-security, cyber-operations, disinformation and deep fakes
- Case studies of legal considerations for cyber-operations and influence operations
Digital Data Deception
Mini Track Chair: Dr. Char Sample, ICF Inc. US, Boise State University
Deceptive digital data is one of the greatest challenges that cybersecurity faces. Examples of such data include Stuxnet where the monitors failed to inform the operators of system problems, poisoned training data for AI/ML enabled security products, manipulated weighting of data, and fake news. All of these examples share a common thread of deceptive data being introduced into an unsuspecting environment that has no mechanism to validate data on input. In this session, a disscusion of methods to identify and counter deceptive digital data are of interest. Also, of interest are studies that have examined methods in which deceptive digital data are created and disseminated.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Methods of creating deceptive data (IoT, ML training data, deceptive quantities, fake news, etc.)
- Comparative analysis between deceptive data techniques
- Detecting deceptive data (poisoned training data, IoT, fake news, etc.)
Interdisciplinary Research in Cybersecurity
Mini Track Chair: Dr. Char Sample, ICF Inc. US, Boise State University
The dynamic and interconnected nature of cyber security touches and influences many aspects of life. This inter-relatedness suggests that other disciplines might influence, or even possibly impact, cyber events. For example, geo-political events, environmental events, culture, psychology or economic disciplines may offer new ideas on how cyber events are viewed and understood. These disciplines also, provide models and frameworks that, when applied to cybersecurity may possibly provide new solutions to long standing challenges. This track is dedicated to crossing the traditional disciplines of academia and examining cyber events within the context of another academic discipline.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Decision science and cybersecurity
- Data science in cybersecurity
- Natural disasters and cyber events
- Conflict and cyber events
- Environmental resources and cyber events
- Financial events and cyber events
- Cyber-Physical systems security
- Complexity modeling in cybersecurity
Security in Health Care: Innovations and Challenges for Trustworthy and Reliable Applications
Mini Track Chair: Christoph Lipps & Jan Herbst, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence – Intelligent Networks Research Department, Germany
The acquisition, processing and exchange of (medical) information have always been the basis for sound diagnosis and effective therapy. The ability to share pathological findings and to collaborate in the process of developing solutions has led to significant advances in the field of medicine. This process is accelerated by the availability of huge amounts of data and the possibility to process and evaluate them accordingly. Recent innovations in mobile communication, such as Beyond 5G (B5G) and the Sixth Generation (6G) of wireless systems, are accelerating this trend even more. But, with the dependency and the increasing value of the transmitted (partly highly sensitive) information, however, comes the fact that systems are becoming increasingly attractive to attackers and saboteurs, entailing the need for technical solutions to detect, evolve, and protect the devices, the systems and above all the people.
Thus, the main challenge will be hardening the (communication) and the devices by addressing the entire cyber resilience lifecycle: Improving security, detecting attacks, responding to them and recovering from occurred ones. Therefore, this track focuses not only on security of medical devices and E-Health applications, but encompasses all aspects of system and device security, including but not limited to:
- Cyber Resilience, Biometrics and Biometric Security for E-Health Applications
- AI and Machine Learning for Health Data Security
- Security for Wearables and IoT-Devices
- Privacy, Risk Management and Regulatory Compliance in E-Health
- Ethical Considerations in E-Health Data Protection