C . Modeling Behavior of the Cyber - Terrorist

The Cyber-Terrorist is assumed to be a very real threat to modern information systems, especially those trusted to control the nation’s defenses and critical infrastructure. Very little intelligence or solid data exist regarding this adversary. This discussion chronicles the efforts by a team at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to model and characterize this adversary. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop defenses against this new and sophisticated adversary. It is not clear whether the Cyber-Terrorist is real or simply a theoretical class of adversary. Very little intelligence or other data exist in open literature that characterizes the behavior or existence of this class of adversary. We will argue that the Cyber-Terrorist is a very real potential threat to modern information systems. Therefore, sophisticated defenders must understand the capabilities and behavior of this adversary in order to defend against it. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Information Assurance (IA) Program is attempting to incorporate the Cyber-Terrorist into a larger model of threats poised against information systems operated by the US Department of Defense. This paper lists some of the basic assumptions about this adversary, with the intent that these assumptions may be challenged within the research community.