Selil Blog

As promised.

The dates to be aware of as discussed in class.

September 24th IDHS District 1 Event

October 7th, District 1 planning meeting

October 27th, 10AM STRIKE team meeting

November 17th IDHS presentation on gap study

Once again we are looking for evidence, past practices, or other documents of gap studies that have been done. Generating a large literature review of what has been done being the primary focus. This also allows you to see what work has been done in the past to compare our efforts.

Some links for the class.

DHS has a new tool called GAP, the tool is about gathering data more than providing a study. Link to transcript Link to video

FEMA Guidance document on the GAP tool (link)

The First Things Fast web page. There are some great links on the left regarding performance analysis.

Wikipedia link on Gap Analysis.

More as I get them.

“In academia there is no reason for two adversaries to take the field where one triumphs at the expense of the other. Rather in education, scholarship transcends winning and losing, by fostering learning” – anonymous

The new cyber coordinator position (AKA cyber czar) as described is a position with no real authority, lots of responsibility, and minimal resources. In most worldly views this is an abhorrent lack of command and control for the cyber security arena that smacks of failure before it starts. I on the other hand a lowly professor at a third tier university think not only can the job get done, the mere fact that so many luminaries have passed on the position is good indication of what is wrong with the bureaucracy in the first place. They’re all a bunch of dunderheads. [Read more →]

Here is my submission for South by South West! Help a guy out we need all the votes we can get. If you like the idea vote it up! [Read more →]

I’m ugly, bald, old, and fat. Given the aforementioned I can do little about the first three that won’t require substantial surgery or a time machine. Though surgery is always an option on the last so is simply not sitting in front of my computer and hitting refresh on my favorite websites.  Running to lose weight though is kind of like beating yourself with a cudgel so it feels good when you stop. I can’t say that I am to smart but I can pay attention and listen to my body. Mine told me to run. [Read more →]

It has been over a month since I updated you on the garden! In those weeks, we went away on vacation, which can spell doom for a garden due to lack of water or back aches for the garden due to an abundance of weeds. We returned to neither of these because we paid a young lady to water for us and the nature of the high density garden is weed free! [Read more →]

A couple of thing you should know about me. First, I am in the process of completing my PhD and second, I have recently taken up running. I began both of these pursuits reluctantly.

I began my PhD course work in 2005. I did not want to be a PhD student as I already had two masters degrees in very diverse fields (History and Computer Science). But I had met a very interesting professor who invited me to take just one class – the one she was teaching the next semester – as a non-degree seeking student. So I did. It was a fantastic class and she is the best professor I have ever had. And then near the end of that class she asked me what class I was going to take next. And then when was I going to apply to be a full PhD student. And there I was, a full time PhD student wondering how I managed to get talked in to this, always reserving the right to quit because after all, I didn’t want to do this in the first place and taking in every bit of knowledge and experience that came my way. [Read more →]

Recently it was brought to my attention that Raytheon was seeking Cyber Warriors in answer to Presidents Obama’s call for cyber security response and change.  When you consider that the resulting legislation storm has left us with a host of actions on the table and you have a perfect storm. David Ronfeldt recently published a substantive treatise on the state of the current debate discussing specifically a collaborative model for cyber defense. Considering the ramifications and past practices his position echoed by Michael Tanji in “We need a broker not a boss” is likely our only hope for success. Let me explain more in depth. [Read more →]

It looks like the Department of Defense (DOD) is going to create a cyber warfare command that may have a war fighting capacity. There are issues with creating a single command structure, there are issues with the military trying to wage war in cyber space, there are issues with the political and legal systems involving Title 10, and there are of course training issues. Creating a command around cyber space could be one of the silliest or most brilliant ideas in a long time. When you add in the absolute risk to civil rights and current protections it is something that should be discussed. [Read more →]

Seeing this meme roll through the Web 2.0 sphere as shocked and horrified stories of adult children are arrogantly disgusted that their social activities are ousted to their parents is hilarious. What isn’t so hilarious is the whimsical childishness of this group of social software natives stepping all over the roots of the Ent’s as they blather away.  The hormone laden slimy sexual proclivities of the drug laden culture of 20 something’s blared across Twitter in a mind numbed orgasm of social media is already enough to make a real digital native ill. Oh my did you know there was this thingy called the Internet. Shock and horror and there are people on it too. Let me grab my cane as a toddle over to find the “any” key. [Read more →]

How do you wage cyber warfare? How do you make a world wide reach? What does it look like? What can we count on for results? All of these questions are part of the process of designing and implementing a cyber warfare solution. A large part of this solution is a superior level of technical sophistication. Throughout this over view the reader should readily assume two principles are required: 1) Stealth, the system should be hidden amongst the noise; 2) Resilient, the system should be able to withstand attack and respond in kind. Through a series of diagrams this will be a quick overview of the infrastructure to wage cyber warfare. Should any funding agencies want to fund it about 10 million USD should do it, the funds will be tax deductible too. [Read more →]

Want to put a deep crimp in cyber warfare capability of foreign nations? Do you have a nagging desire to give indigestion to NSA analysts? Do you lie awake at night worried that the latest emails from foreign governments might be used against you politically by spy agencies? Did your last porn downloads contain raunchy pictures so filthy you are sure the FBI will be knocking soon? Does the meager mention of total information dominance cause you to quake in your shoes? If you are privacy zealot and criminal mastermind have we got a deal for you! A holistic nation wide infrastructure that solves all of your ill found needs is just one click away. [Read more →]

With this ten part series I wanted to get some ideas down and hopefully start some discussion. Over the last few weeks each segment has looked at cyber warfare from a different viewpoint. I’ve been told that my blog posts are way to long and that nobody reads my stuff, but I’d rather provide detailed content over other options. Right or wrong each segment tried to look from a high level at what cyber warfare means. I have succeeded at creating some stir with several other blogs picking up on themes and posts. Here at the end of the series I thought I’d try and clarify a few things and tell you where the future is going to take me. Expect a few minor rants too. [Read more →]

There are a lot of arguments over why cyber warfare and cyber terrorism get so little attention. The attention it gets arrives in waves and departs. There is almost a decade swing between being ignored and being the hottest new thing. The current president says he will make it a priority much like the previous five presidents. Think tanks and experts trot across the stage in front of legislators and people discuss the issues much like they have for forty years. Nearly the exact problems of decades ago exist within the cyber infrastructure today. It is pretty obvious that we as a society do not take cyber conflict seriously despite extensive evidence of the issues. Cyber has changed our society in many negative ways. [Read more →]