CFP: CyCon 2014

Next year's CyCon is going to take place 3-6 June and focus on active defence.

Important Dates Abstract submission 01 October 2013
Full paper 10 January 2014
Notification of Authors 3 March 2014
Final Paper 24 March 2014

The CFP is available here.

Tallinn Tech is looking for a Professor of Cyber Security

The Department of Computer Science at Tallinn University of Technology is looking for a Professor of Cyber Security.

Application deadline: October 31, 2013

This appointment is part of the strategic growth of the Department of Computer Science. The department is seeking an energetic and dynamic candidate who will contribute to and complement the current research and teaching activities, and promote cooperation with national and international partners in academia, industry, government, and military.

The successful candidate will serve as a leader of research and teaching in the field of practical cyber security and digital forensics.

Further information:
http://academicpositions.eu/ad/tallinn-university-of-technology/2013/professor-of-cyber-security/

For informal inquiries, please contact Prof. Jüri Vain: +372 620 4190, juri.vain@ttu.ee .

Academic life

It has been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened since. The last year has been interesting, as I was searching for my next challenge. I'll try rebooting this blog, as well.

I left the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence at the turn of the year. I had been involved with it since January of 2005, when I first joined the team that was doing the preparation work to get the Centre established. When that happened in May of 2008, I took on the role of a scientist (first at R&D, later at Training and Doctrine). This time was instrumental in my personal and professional growth and I am very grateful to the Centre and the Estonian Defence Forces for the opportunities I was offered during my service. However, after five years at CCD COE, it was time to move on, lest I get too comfortable in my role there.

Therefore, I did some soul searching and job searching last year. My job search revealed that there are many empty slots to fill, so I opted for the approach that allows me to address the qualified manpower shortage in the most direct way. Last September I took on a part-time teaching position in University of Jyväskylä, Finland, in order to get experience and to see a bit more of the academic world. As of last month, I am also an Associate Professor in Tallinn University of Technology, working on cyber security topics (a 50% position). Both of these Universities have ambitious goals for building up a strong cyber security program, so I will have some interesting years ahead.

I have also reserved a fraction of my time for other interesting projects (consulting, etc.) that come up, such as cyber exercises and targeted short term research projects. All in all, this arrangement gives me a lot of flexibility and a wider net to fish for exciting challenges.

So far, I am enjoying myself. Life is very busy, but fun as well. 

ECIW 2013 in Jyväskylä, Finland

The next European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW) takes place in University of Jyväskylä, Finland, on 11-12 July 2013. I will run a mini-track on Cyber Professionalism and Military Cyber Operations. The description of the mini-track follows:

In a time of constrained resources, everyone is trying to do more with less. One area that merits serious study is the use of military cyber operations in support of, or instead of, conventional military operations. While by no means a cheap option, cyber operations offer asymmetric benefits if used sparingly and only against targets of strategic importance.

 

While not a part of the standard order of battle yet, many states are making serious efforts in developing their military cyber capability. In general, they all share the same problems: figuring out the composition and TTP’s of cyber units, finding the best possible people to staff them and integrating the cyber capabilities with the existing toolset of the commander.

Topics for this track may include but are not limited to:

• military cyber operations
• tactics, techniques and procedures for cyber operations
• identifying, recruiting, training and retaining cyber operatives
• cyber force structure – unit composition, specialization, location in the command chain, rank mix, etc.
• role of active forces, reserve forces, as well as militias and other volunteer groups. 

The CFP is open until 20 December, so it is time to warm up your keyboards.

 

You may have noticed that my affiliation is listed as University of Jyväskylä. This is because for the past three months I have taught in Jyväskylä as a (part-time) post-doctoral researcher. It is part of my transition from my current main position in the NATO CCD COE to academia in the next few months. I am also applying for a part time position in Tallinn University of Technology and will hopefully join the faculty there in February.

CFP for CyCon 2013 is out

The CFP for the NATO CCD COE annual conference CyCon 2013 is now out. Abstract submission deadline is 01 November, so it is time to write down your thoughts.

Tallinn Manual

The Tallinn Manual, or Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare (MILCW), is nearing completion. While the book version is getting its finishing touches at Cambridge University Press (scheduled to publish in early 2013), the soft copy is now available on the NATO CCD COE website. [NB! Be sure to note the disclaimers about the status of the manual!]

I had the pleasure to participate in the development of this very interesting Manual for three years. As one of the 'Technical Experts', my role was to explain various cyber and computing concepts to the lawyers, as well as participate in creating many of the examples found in the book.

I wish to thank the group, for it was fascinating work and I learned a great deal in the process.

Time to climb a new mountain - Part II

While there are still some uncertainties, it looks like I have at least identified the mountain range in question.

The current plan is to split my time between teaching and researching in Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) and University of Jyväskylä (Finland), with 25% of my time left for various projects that I can pursue in self-employed mode (ideas welcome). The switch is going to happen in the next few months and should be complete by the end of the year.

I will still focus on cyber conflict and national cyber security research, so that is not going to change. However, I hope to tie my current research with a different field or approach, such as AI or situational awareness, in order to cover interesting new ground. I am not set on a topic yet and will explore cooperation opportunities as they develop.

Time to climb a new mountain

After four years as a Scientist at the NATO CCD COE, which was preceded by another three years of work helping set up and develop the Centre, the time has finally come to move on to face new challenges. Or to be a bit more specific, this time will come sometime in the second half of 2012.

I feel I am ready to explore cyber security and cyber conflict from new angles. I love teaching, so an academic approach is definitely a possibility. It would also be interesting to gain experience from private sector perspective. Most likely I will try to combine various options to get the "perfect blend" for the time being. By the look of things I will make my decision later this month.

I can't say for sure what road I will follow, but one thing I definitely want to do is to revive this blog. I have been very busy (personally, academically, professionally) for the past couple of years and, sadly, this blog was one of the easiest things to put on hold while I got things sorted out. Yet, people still seem to find it every once in a while, as the visit counter passed ten thousand last month. This adds to my motivation to get things going again.

Time to re-invent myself...

CFP for CyCon 2012

The CFP for the fourth International Conference on Cyber Conflict is out. As has been the tradition so far, the conference title has changed yet again - the short version is now CyCon.

Mark your calendars - I hope to see you in Tallinn in June!

DDoS - a legitimate form of protest?

The cyber attacks against supporters and opponents of Wikileaks have generated a fair bit of debate about whether or not DDoS can be a legitimate form of protest. I tend to side with the "nays" on this one.

Sure, DDoS could be compared to a sit in, but with infinitely lower entry threshold. One does not need to travel anywhere, or actually waste their time "sitting", and very often does not risk dealing with law enforcement - the computer can protest on their behalf all night long. It's more like throwing nails on a freeway and going home.

But my main argument against protest DDoS is that it can then be used for any cause. Attacks against Radio Free Europe? It's cool, they just protestin'! As can be seen from the Wikileaks affair, both sides in there are using cyber attacks to get their message across. Is this truly what we want? I dont like you, so I have the right to DDoS you? I have the right for free speech and the right for making stupid people shut up?

Cyber Security Conference in Georgia

I was in Tbilisi last week and spoke at the Georgian Cyber Security and IT Innovation conference. The first day focused solely on cyber security topics. Agenda and materials are available here. As expected, the 2008 Russia-Georgia war and its cyber component came up in several presentations.

My talk on Volunteers in Cyber Conflict was based on a number of papers I have written on the subject. While I have focused on the offensive (and illegal) hactivism/patriotic hacking so far, I am in the process of switching gears and focusing on the defencive (and official) use of volunteers. For example, the reserve cyber units in US military, the WARP system in UK and the Cyber Defence League in Estonia. I believe there is great merit in harnessing the skills and resources of security specialists and enthusiasts for a constructive purpose.

What does CCD COE do?

I get this question a lot.

Well, while there are a lot of things that will not make it into limelight, our people do publish some of the work in public academic conferences and journals.

CFP: International Conference on Cyber Conflict

Finally, the CFP for our own conference is out. The International Conference on Cyber Conflict is the third conference in the series organized by CCD COE. This year, we also have IEEE as a co-sponsor. The conference will take place 07-10 June 2011 in Tallinn, Estonia.

As for the CFP [pdf]:

In 2011 the conference will focus on the combination of defensive and offensive aspects of Cyber Forces and will combine different views on cyber defense and operations in the current and envisaged threat environments. All this shall not be limited to military perspective.

Legal, strategic and technical submissions are welcome on equal grounds.

Researchers and practicians are encouraged to submit papers covering novel and scientifically significant practical works related to 2011’s topics via our web portal. Accepted papers - after passing the peer-review - will be published in the conference proceedings provided in hard cover and digitally though IEEE Xplore.

Paper submission deadline is 20 JAN 2011.

Article in FutureGov Magazine

I recently wrote an article for FutureGov Magazine about the events in Estonia in 2007. Although my intent was to tone down the hype surrounding the incident, the final "independent" editing process managed to come up with a intro paragraph about "cyber war", even though I had specifically avoided this term in the article itself. I guess that is the risk one takes with media.

The article is available in the August-September issue [large pdf!], on pages 70-72.

Hacker Halted in Miami

I have been in Miami this week, attending the Hacker Halted Conference. Among the workshops that closed the conference today was the Cyber Security Forum Initiative (CSFI) event, where I got to speak about my research (Volunteers in Cyber Conflicts) next to some other interesting characters, like Roger Kuhn and Jeff Bardin. The talk went well, which is a good thing as it is based on an early prototype of my upcoming PhD thesis.

Update: Paul de Souza's post on the CSFI workshop

Interview explosion

I gave an interview to Baltic News Service (BNS) on Friday. Instead of writing it up as one article, they chose to create a bunch of short pieces that are currently flooding some news portals in Estonia. For a casual observer, it looks like I have personally launched a massive frontal assault on cyber awareness issues. Interesting development, although unintentional.

CFP: ECIW 2011

I am back from my summer hiatus and ready to kick-start another year of cyber conflict studies. Let's start with the CFP to the 10th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW). This time it is held in Tallinn, Estonia. It is hosted by the Institute of Cybernetics at Tallinn University of Technology, in collaboration with the CCD COE. I will be serving as the local Program Chair, so I hope to see some of you there.

Please feel free to circulate this CFP:

This is a call for papers for 10th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security being held at The Institute of Cybernetics at the Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia on the 7-8 July 2011.

The 10th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW) is an opportunity for academics, practitioners and consultants from Europe and elsewhere who are involved in the study, management, development and implementation of systems and concepts to combat information warfare or to improve information systems security to come together and exchange ideas. There are several strong strands of research and interest that are developing in the area including the understanding of threats and risks to information systems, the development of a strong security culture, as well as incident detection and post incident investigation. This conference is continuing to establish itself as a key event for individuals working in the field from around the world.

Please consider submitting to this conference. We are interested in the entire range of concepts from theory to practice, including case studies, works-in-progress, and conceptual explorations. The conference committee welcomes contributions on a wide range of topics using a range of scholarly approaches including theoretical and empirical papers employing qualitative, quantitative and critical methods.

Case studies and work-in-progress/posters are welcomed approaches. PhD Research, proposals for roundtable discussions, non-academic contributions and product demonstrations based on the main themes are also invited.

You can find calls for papers for these tracks at:

http://academic-conferences.org/eciw/eciw2011/eciw11-call-papers.htm

The ECIW conference proceedings are:

· listed in the Thomson Reuters ISI Index to Scientific and Technical Proceedings (ISTP/ISI Proceedings)

· listed in the Thomson Reuters ISI Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings (ISSHP)

· listed in the Thomson Reuters ISI Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings (ISSHP/ISI Proceedings).

· indexed by the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the UK.

Conference publications are submitted for accreditation on publication. Please note that depending on the accreditation body, this process can take several months.

Please feel free to circulate this message to any colleagues or contacts you think may be interested.

Another paper published at ECIW

Last week I was at the 9th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW 2010) in Thessaloniki, Greece. This is an academic conference, so most of the attendants were also speakers. The information about the proceedings is available here. I hosted the Cyber Conflict mini-track, which consisted of five papers, including mine:

Ottis, R. (2010) Proactive Defence Tactics Against On-Line Cyber Militia. In Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security, Thessaloniki, Greece, 01-02 July. Reading: Academic Publishing Limited, p 233-237. [link]

The main idea of my paper was that in order to defeat a loose network of cyber vigilantes (on-line cyber militia), one can potentially adopt a more proactive stance and use various (offensive) information operations. It should be noted that this is only a theoretical exercise, as some of the options considered may be against the laws and regulations of the host country.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for reading material in the similar vein, please let me know.

Two papers published at C6

I have updated the publications tab with two papers that were published in the proceedings of the upcoming Conference on Cyber Conflict. As is always the case, by the time they went to print I already had some ideas for changing them. Nevertheless, here they are:

• Lorents, P. and Ottis, R. (2010) Knowledge Based Framework for Cyber Weapons and Conflict. In Czosseck, C. and Podins, K. (Eds.) Conference on Cyber Conflict. Proceedings 2010. Tallinn: CCD COE Publications, p 129-142.[link]
• Ottis, R. (2010) From Pitch Forks to Laptops: Volunteers in Cyber Conflicts. In Czosseck, C. and Podins, K. (Eds.) Conference on Cyber Conflict. Proceedings 2010. Tallinn: CCD COE Publications, p 97-109. [link]

Any comments and feedback welcome.

There are those who know...

Only two weeks until the Conference on Cyber Conflict! While this and some other projects keep me busy, I wanted to point you to a great story over at ubiwar. This discussion has developed over a few days in various other blogs as well.

The issue is about people with access to classified material making authoritative statements, because they "know how things really are". However, since what they know and how they know it is classified, they will not follow through with argumentation. A person who has no access to the classified material has no way of verifying the correctness of the claim, so he has to take it on faith.

My short stance on this is - if it is classified, shut up about it. One, it is not helpful for the open debate. Two, classified is not equivalent to correct. Three, "classified" may refer to something that does not exist.