Unclassified Assessing Actions Along the Spectrum of Cyberspace Operations Presented by USCYBERCOM JA This presentation does not necessarily reflect the position of the US Government 1 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Attack • Use of force Cyber Disruption •Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Change delete manipulate data e g changing a word in a document Modify software to cause system glitches e g causing a reboot or causing a file to close Disrupting communications or command and control e g blocking emails web forums telephone communication Very stealthy • Physical damage or destruction • Physical injury or death Less stealthy 2 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations With that background we will discuss several real world and exercise examples of cyber operations to determine where they fall on the spectrum of cyber operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Very stealthy Cyber Disruption •Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems without physical damage or injury Cyber Attack • Use of force • Physical damage or destruction • Physical injury or death Less stealthy 3 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Operation Buckshot Yankee Implant • Code embedded in flash drive • Downloaded when inserted into computer • Ran code to enable exfiltration Very stealthy Less stealthy 4 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Attack Cyber Disruption • Physical damage to property or injury to persons • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Change Data with No Physical Damage to Gain Access • Erase admin logs • Cause reboot to upload or activate program • Install program Very stealthy Less stealthy 5 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Cyber Shock Wave—Move One • Malware downloaded to cell phones during basketball game • Designed to spread to linked computers • Botnet ready to order Very stealthy Less stealthy 6 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Small scale Denial of Service against Non-Government Adversary • Block adversary publication of a magazine or pamphlets e g Inspire • Block email communications • Block access to website Very stealthy Less stealthy 7 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Delete or Change Data of Non-Govermental Adversary with no physical damage or injury to persons • Delete web documents or files from computer • Change information in articles or propaganda • Manipulate information to render instructions ineffective • Change location of tactical rendezvous Very stealthy Less stealthy 8 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Operation Aurora • Access to systems of Google and more than 20 other companies including web security defense industry • Google attributed to China Politburo officials and assisting organizations • Actions lasted several months • Data stolen • Security codes modified Very stealthy Less stealthy 9 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons U S and South Korea 2009 • 27 Government and commercial sites hit with a denial of service • Estimated over 50K computers in botnet sending requests • Targeted NY Stock Exchange NASDAQ Yahoo financial Dept of Transportation Treasury FTC White House Secret Service • DDOS lasted from hours to a few days Very stealthy Less stealthy 10 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Estonia 2007 • Intermittent DDOS against government and businesses over the course of a month • Botnets used actions transited over 170 countries • Online banking down for most of the month • Government unable to send emails for days at a time • Data changed on websites including defacement and propaganda • Primarily economic impact and degraded communications Very stealthy Less stealthy 11 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Estonia 2007 • NOTE Estonia and NATO stated these actions did not constitute a use of force • We may consider actions less than Estonia as less than a use of force • Many cyber disruption actions fall below this threshold • Month long DDOS against banking government web-sites communication Very stealthy Less stealthy 12 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption •Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Cyber Shock Wave—Move 2 • Botnet spread through malware-generated emails • Civilian SCADA outage with no physical damage • 40 Million lost electricity in Eastern U S for hours to days • 60 Million lost cell phone access for days • Wall Street down for 1 week Very stealthy Less stealthy 13 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption •Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Storm • SCADA outage with no physical damage • Affects Government and critical infrastructure • Air Traffic Control lost for limited period • Loss of government communications for days • D C Metro shut down for days Very stealthy Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Gray area may be viewed as attack depending on severity Less stealthy 14 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption •Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Stuxnet • Precision-Effect Code infiltrated Iran’s nuclear facilities for uranium enrichment • Cyber code altered rotation speed of centrifuges • Over 1000 centrifuges damaged Very stealthy Less stealthy 15 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption •Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Deleting or Manipulating Data causing physical damage and injury • Alter subway data to cause trains to collide • Altering flight paths causing planes to collide • Altering or deleting information in medical and pharmaceutical records causing serious illness and death when patients treated Very stealthy Less stealthy 16 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Cyber Disruption •Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Cyber Attack During Conflict • Damage command and control systems • Cause in-flight failure on military aircraft • Cause detonation at military fuel depot Very stealthy Less stealthy 17 Unclassified Unclassified Spectrum of Cyber Operations Ping Map or Probe Buckshot Yankee •Erase logs •Install code CSW Move One •Implant malware •Create botnet Degrade Service or access to info Delete or change adversary data with no phys damage or injury US ROK •DDOS with minor impact Estonia • Govt Banking down for most of a month China Google Access Operations • Digital intelligence e g stealthy implant Very stealthy Unclassified Cyber Disruption Cyber Shock Wave •SCADA outage with no physical damage • Primarily private systems • Interrupt the flow of information or function of information systems without physical damage or injury Cyber Storm •SCADA outage with no physical damage • Effected Govt critical systems Change Data • Causes injury or damage Stuxnet •Damage 1000 centrifuges Attack in conflict • Destroy C2 fuel planes ships Cyber Attack • Physical damage to property or injury to persons Less stealthy 18