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A Revisitation of Clausewitz’s Thinking from the Cyber Situational Awareness Perspective

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Computer Security. ESORICS 2022 International Workshops (ESORICS 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13785))

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Abstract

This paper has as main purpose to revisit some of the foundations of Western military thinking, and its evolution derived from the increasingly attenuated need on making use of cyberspace as domain for resolving state-level conflicts through the use of force. This will be done on the basis of the work of the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, and focalized in their implications when developing and operating cyber situational awareness capabilities. Rather than remaining a mere retrospective the paper will analyze the present and possible projection of some of the key concepts in geostrategic, operational planning and international law directed from the following dimensions: 1) the nature of cyber conflicts as part of war; 2) the digitalization of the society; 3) the friction forces on cyberspace operations; 4) the centers of gravity in cyberspace; and 5) decisive conditions and culminating points on cyberspace operations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This concept, meaning the study of war, was first introduced by Gaston Bouthoul, a French-Tunisian Doctor in Law, Politics and Social Sciences. Bouthoul later founded the Institut Français de Polémologie, one of the few research institutes focused on the social phenomenon of war.

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Acknowledgements

figure a

This research has received funding from the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) under the grant agreement Number EDIDP-CSAMN-SSC-2019-022-ECYSAP (European Cyber Situational Awareness Platform).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indra Sistemas S.A., Av. de Bruselas 35, 28108, Madrid, Spain

    Pedro Ramón y Cajal Ramo, Claudia Castillo Arias, Jorge Carlos Manzanares Martínez & Jorge Maestre Vidal

Authors
  1. Pedro Ramón y Cajal Ramo
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  2. Claudia Castillo Arias
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  3. Jorge Carlos Manzanares Martínez
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  4. Jorge Maestre Vidal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jorge Maestre Vidal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Gjøvik, Norway

    Sokratis Katsikas

  2. Polytechnique Montréal, Montreal, Canada

    Frédéric Cuppens

  3. University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece

    Christos Kalloniatis

  4. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    John Mylopoulos

  5. Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Frank Pallas

  6. Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin, Germany

    Jörg Pohle

  7. Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    M. Angela Sasse

  8. Norwegian Computing Center, Oslo, Norway

    Habtamu Abie

  9. University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Silvio Ranise

  10. University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Luca Verderame

  11. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Genoa, Italy

    Enrico Cambiaso

  12. Indra, Alcobendas, Spain

    Jorge Maestre Vidal

  13. Indra, Alcobendas, Spain

    Marco Antonio Sotelo Monge

  14. George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Massimiliano Albanese

  15. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Gjøvik, Norway

    Basel Katt

  16. Norwegian Computing Center, Oslo, Norway

    Sandeep Pirbhulal

  17. Institute for Energy Technology, Halden, Norway

    Ankur Shukla

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Ramón y Cajal Ramo, P., Arias, C.C., Manzanares Martínez, J.C., Vidal, J.M. (2023). A Revisitation of Clausewitz’s Thinking from the Cyber Situational Awareness Perspective. In: Katsikas, S., et al. Computer Security. ESORICS 2022 International Workshops. ESORICS 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13785. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25460-4_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25460-4_25

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