Table of Contents
As discussed in chapter 2, the concept of Network Centric Warfare (NCW) anticipates ready access to information. This demands an ability to protect information such that its security can be as assured as its ready access. From a military perspective, therefore, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) must balance the quest for information superiority against the potential for creating an operational vulnerability. And it must do this within the broader context of balancing security and privacy as it increasingly shares information. From a national perspective, the Australian Government will wish to balance these same issues as it shares information across national security agencies and possibly with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
Reliance on information and information systems and addressing the consequent vulnerabilities raises the question of protecting along a spectrum—from simple failure to attacks from terrorists or state-based adversaries. Cyber-security demands far more attention, and while protecting critical information infrastructure addresses much of the problem, more needs to be done. Government and Defence need to develop a trusted information infrastructure and put in place the mechanism for Australia to protect its critical information infrastructure.
In addressing these issues, this chapter provides frameworks for dealing with operational vulnerabilities, cyber-terrorism, privacy, and security risk, which can be managed at the Defence enterprise level for the ADF and at the whole-of-government level for national issues.