Today with more people dependent on information technology, cybersecurity has become a major issue that is considered by all the IT services across the world. Even if there have been great advancements in information technologies, not much has been improved when it comes to ensuring security, more great security measures have to be adopted for protecting the data transferred throughout the network. Hence in this essay, various aspects, depending upon the uncertainties, are included in this aspect of the information environment. Elements such as the fog of war and the information environment are explained in this report to understand better the gravity of the issue considering the need for cybersecurity. This paper shows how the term the fog of war is related to the information environment and how it leads to complex problems that are present today within cybersecurity.
Fog of War Discussion
The term ‘fog of war’ refers to the amalgamation of certain characteristics of war, namely uncertainty, disorder, chance, friction, chaos, and complexity, among others. In simple terms, not everything in war is knowable or foreseen; some measure of ambiguity will always exist (Elward, 2010). This applies to information systems and management, and this ambiguity prevails within the information environment and is behind the complex problem of cybersecurity today. This inexactness often leads to taking wrong decisions, which can have some serious impacts on information systems. We analyze the problems present within the industry and see if it is the wrong decisions or not acting promptly due to environmental and systematic uncertainty that is affecting the cybersecurity industry.
The fog of war generally refers to the uncertainty in situational awareness usually experienced by individuals during certain operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an operation. Therefore, leaders at all levels must be aware of the human aspects of information and be trained to develop an adaptive, flexible, intuitive mind to deal with and make decisions in an uncertain, chaotic, dangerous, and fast-moving environment.
Information Environment Discussion
An information environment is the area of information management consisting of different interrelated or isolated systems. The aggregate of individuals, organizations, or systems that collect, process, or disseminate information. As IT professionals, it is our duty to protect the information channel, as well as the contents. An information environment can also be described as a place where humans and automated systems, observe, decide and take action upon the information, therefore it can also be considered a principal environment for decision-making. An information system consists of three domains, namely physical, informational, and cognitive.
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The physical domain is a place where the stakeholder is seeking to influence a situation. The physical framework and communication networks come under this domain, whereas the information domain is where the information is present. The cognitive domain lies within the mind of decision-makers, it is not what the information systems know, but it covers what stakeholders or individuals know who have an effect on the decisions made by the organization. Different individuals have different perceptions. We analyze what we observe from the lessons we have learned through things we have experienced. This shows that cognitive awareness varies for all stakeholders within the information environment which leads to problems in decision-making in cybersecurity.
Decision-Making for Cybersecurity
Before deploying cybersecurity measures in an organization, the drawbacks of the current communication system have to be identified and assessed. We will be able to determine the exact measures once the fault is identified. If stringent measures are applied for ensuring security, the privacy or flexibility of an individual within an organization will be affected. This situation is often referred to as friction issues within cybersecurity. The security measures have to be applied in such a way that it doesn’t compromise personal freedom. The friction is referred to as the gap between the privacy and the security provided. If you are focused on security, that means privacy is sacrificed and vice-versa.
Critical Discussion
Technology has much to offer in modern warfare, however, the techno-centric view is dangerously disconnected from the human dimension, it does not take into account how humans process and perceive information, make decisions, or even the adversary’s capabilities or desires. For example, studies of the conflicts in Vietnam and present-day Iraq and Afghanistan show the U.S. tends to overestimate its technological superiority and underestimate the ability of opponents to nullify the U.S. advantages. The U.S. can no longer afford to do this. The U.S. military must bring Clausewitzian friction and the fog of war back into the forefront of current military thinking (Elward, 2010). We know intuitive decision-making is experience-based, so a broad experience base is vital to achieving the skill for pattern recognition; the basis of recognition-primed decisions. Clausewitz states the only way to improve this experience base is through combat experience. Other ways are improving the experience base through historical and contemporary studies, historical case studies and decision games, war gaming, and realistic ‘fog of war’ training (Elward, 2010). This can be applied to the modern enterprise information environment. Clausewitz also offers the following support. Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory, most intelligence is false, and the effect of fear is to multiply lies and inaccuracies. This can often lead to wrong decisions in cybersecurity and the consequences can be catastrophic. Critical thinking is vital within cybersecurity where security professionals are required to respond to evolving threats and make decisions every day based on uncertainty and insufficient information. Vigilant and effective cybersecurity specialists have the critical thinking skills and mindset that enable them to anticipate and defend against internal and external threats. The challenges of working in these rapidly changing and complex fields require the ability to reason well in highly precise contexts as well as ambiguous and uncertain contexts, the ability to analyze problems and evaluate alternatives, and the ability to explain clearly what needs to be done and why.
Conclusion
The fog of war is a central and prevailing characteristic of war, and it is inherent in the nature of war. It may take many forms – friction, ambiguity, chaos, and uncertainty. This is similar to the modern cyber warfare. Ambiguity very much prevails within the cybersecurity industry today. As an IT professional, you need to have an understanding of the information environment and its domain, as well as be aware of its nature. The uncertainty characterized by the fog of war must be the principle of operational art, as well as a driving influence in the modern information environment. The conclusions drawn from the fog of war have a greater effect on information processing and decision-making. There is no doubt that critical thinking is crucial to this process and aids you find inconsistencies and weaknesses that will allow criminals to breach security and cause all manner of problems. We have also discussed the friction issues present.
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