Coping with Cyber Kill Chains: When the Battle-space is Inside Our Weapon Systems

The presentation examines cyber-attack, and what this means for military weapon systems platforms, i.e. aircraft, ships, vehicles, etc. Research investigations at the Royal Military College of Canada have been organized around the concept of the “Cyber-Kill-Chain.” Many complex steps must go right for an attacker to exploit a Kill Chain. Defence entails interdicting the kill chain at various points. This implies new organizations and skill sets to manage this battlespace. The primary resource for effective cyber defence is very skilled and knowledgeable people to drive the defence process and its strategies. We identify a model force structure and skills requirements.

Dr Scott Knight

Scott Knight is a Professor Emeritus at the Royal Military College of Canada, and a previous Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chair of Cyber Security.  Dr Knight was appointed to the academic faculty at RMC in 2000 on retirement from 21 years of service in the Canadian Air Force.  Although an Air Force pilot early in his career his later experience was focused on computer systems and network engineering.  During this time Dr Knight worked with the National Defence Intelligence and Security communities on the development of secure computing networks to be used for handling classified and national security related information.  He also spent time as a military faculty member at RMC where he founded the Computer Security Laboratory.  This research group has a close working relationship with the Canadian Forces Information Operations Group and the Canadian Government security establishment, and focuses on computer network defence and support to cyber operations.