Developing a Military Cyber Maturity Model for Multi-Domain Battle Mission Resilience and Success

Modern military forces rely heavily on cyber-enabled systems; for logistics, communication, and control. Modern military platforms are heavily integrated with computing capability. This integration and reliance will only increase over time. Modern military operations require the support of flexible, responsive and resilient cyber-capabilities. Current information system security models and information assurance constructs seek to achieve information assurance, a high degree of certainty in the confidentiality, integrity and availability of cyber-systems supporting combat operations. However, this approach assumes that an information assurance approach is a complete and comprehensive defense. History though, has proven otherwise. This work argues that the information assurance approach, whilst a worthy goal, is not reflective of the lessons of history or warfare. Specifically, this work outlines the need for, and introduces The Military Cyber-Maturity Model, a pragmatic model that assumes a technically capable and intelligent adversary. This model assumes the possibility of an adversary utilizing an unknown vulnerability to attack the system, and expends resources to minimise the impact of the successful attack rather than relying entirely on an impregnable defense. This approach extends beyond the assumption that a cyber-attack immediately causes mission failure, by recognizing that each cyber-attack has different requirements and outcomes and will affect different assets and processes. The Military Cyber-Maturity Model seeks to model business continuity through a high degree of cultural change, embedded work practices that parallel analogue and digital work practices with deceptive counterintelligence behavior. The Military Cyber-Maturity Model incorporates the concepts of behavioral defense and mission assurance to provide agility and increase the likelihood of success in combat. Information deception provides a behavioral defense, creating uncertainty and doubt in the adversary's mind and reducing the degree of trust they have in the information available. This paper introduces the model, outlines its aims, components and justifications. This work also outlines the need for simulation and testing to validate the model's effectiveness, and introduces a number of potential use-cases.

The Key Factors Influencing Safety Analysis for Traditional Settlement Landscape

The secure layout of traditional settlements is key to their sustainability. The criteria and assessment framework for spatial safety have not yet been systematically summarized, and their safety assessment criteria and dimensions have not yet been established. Therefore, this study aims to develop the constructs, assessment framework, and relational network, and analyze the association among and roles of key criteria of the spatial safety of traditional settlements using the Delphi method, DANP (DEMATEL (Decision Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory)-based ANP (Analytic Network Process) method), and IPA (Importance–Performance Analysis) for case studies. Based on the results, this study extracted the localized elements of traditional settlements to create special local settlements. This study found that: (1) the dimensions of spatial safety include spiritual, physical, and behavioral aspects, and 16 criteria, eight of which are key criteria; (2) religious beliefs are important and have mutual influence on the organization and source of other criteria; (3) the use of IPA found that key criteria together makes up safe living places. Spiritual defense combines trust with the sense of belonging; the physical defense constructs a spatial environment; and behavioral defense involves daily life activities. Spiritual defense consists of psychological consolation and has a complementary relationship with physical defense. Behavioral defense has a social organizational system, which it reflects in spiritual and physical defenses. The spiritual, physical, and behavioral defenses are related to each other, and are reflected in the psychological, spatial, and living aspects. Overall, when taken together, the spiritual, physical, and behavioral aspects of the spatial safety criteria of settlements construct safe living places.

Camphor, Applied Epidermally to the Back, Causes Snout- and Chest-Grooming in Rats: A Response Mediated by Cutaneous TRP Channels

Thermoregulatory grooming, a behavioral defense against heat, is known to be driven by skin-temperature signals. Because at least some thermal cutaneous signals that drive heat defenses are likely to be generated by transient receptor potential (TRP) channels, we hypothesized that warmth-sensitive TRPs drive thermoregulatory grooming. Adult male Wistar rats were used. We showed that camphor, a nonselective agonist of several TRP channels, including vanilloid (V) 3, when applied epidermally to the back (500 mg/kg), caused a pronounced self-grooming response, including paw-licking and snout- and chest-“washing”. By the percentage of time spent grooming, the response was similar to the thermoregulatory grooming observed during exposure to ambient warmth (32 °C). Ruthenium red (a non-selective antagonist of TRP channels, including TRPV3), when administered intravenously at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg, attenuated the self-grooming behavior induced by either ambient warmth or epidermal camphor. Furthermore, the intravenous administration of AMG8432 (40 mg/kg), a relatively selective TRPV3 antagonist, also attenuated the self-grooming response to epidermal camphor. We conclude that camphor causes the self-grooming behavior by acting on TRP channels in the skin. We propose that cutaneous warmth signals mediated by TRP channels, possibly including TRPV3, drive thermoregulatory self-grooming in rats.

Infectious Disease and Imperfections of Self-Image

Infectious disease is an ever-present threat in daily life. Recent literature indicates that people manage this threat with a suite of antipathogenic psychological and behavioral defense mechanisms, which motivate the avoidance of people and objects bearing cues to pathogen risk. Here, we demonstrate that self-image is also impacted by these mechanisms. In seven studies, pathogen cues led individuals chronically averse to germs to express greater concern about their own physical appearance. Correspondingly, these people exhibited behavioral intentions and decisions intended to conceal or improve their appearance, such as purchasing facial products, taking pharmaceuticals, and undergoing cosmetic surgery. This work opens a new area of investigation for infectious-disease psychology research and highlights the central role played by physical appearance in pathogen-related cognition.

Developing a Military Cyber Maturity Model for Multi-Domain Battle Mission Resilience and Success

Modern military forces rely heavily on cyber-enabled systems; for logistics, communication, and control. Modern military platforms are heavily integrated with computing capability. This integration and reliance will only increase over time. Modern military operations require the support of flexible, responsive and resilient cyber-capabilities. Current information system security models and information assurance constructs seek to achieve information assurance, a high degree of certainty in the confidentiality, integrity and availability of cyber-systems supporting combat operations. However, this approach assumes that an information assurance approach is a complete and comprehensive defense. History though, has proven otherwise. This work argues that the information assurance approach, whilst a worthy goal, is not reflective of the lessons of history or warfare. Specifically, this work outlines the need for, and introduces The Military Cyber-Maturity Model, a pragmatic model that assumes a technically capable and intelligent adversary. This model assumes the possibility of an adversary utilizing an unknown vulnerability to attack the system, and expends resources to minimise the impact of the successful attack rather than relying entirely on an impregnable defense. This approach extends beyond the assumption that a cyber-attack immediately causes mission failure, by recognizing that each cyber-attack has different requirements and outcomes and will affect different assets and processes. The Military Cyber-Maturity Model seeks to model business continuity through a high degree of cultural change, embedded work practices that parallel analogue and digital work practices with deceptive counterintelligence behavior. The Military Cyber-Maturity Model incorporates the concepts of behavioral defense and mission assurance to provide agility and increase the likelihood of success in combat. Information deception provides a behavioral defense, creating uncertainty and doubt in the adversary's mind and reducing the degree of trust they have in the information available. This paper introduces the model, outlines its aims, components and justifications. This work also outlines the need for simulation and testing to validate the model's effectiveness, and introduces a number of potential use-cases.