Cyberspace Situational Awareness Framework

A command and control (C2) structure is maintained by situation awareness, which in turn is reliant on information sharing. In complex connected military environments, information sharing is supported by the communication and information systems, which are cyberspace dependent. This dependency results in an immense interconnectedness. The transformation of cyberspace into a warfare domain enables new capabilities. The operational utilization of these capabilities requires a C2 structure or system that is compatible with the requirements of cyberspace. Consequently, situation awareness in the cyberspace becomes paramount in the discussion of cyberspace and cyber operation. Although cyber situation awareness is distinct from the traditional warfare situation awareness, human cognition is an indispensable component in both. Present discussions in cyber situation awareness, however, do not include a compressive discussion of human cognition. This paper proposes a necessary improvement to cyber situation awareness by including human cognition using the Situation Theory approach. It studies cyber situation awareness in the context of cyberspace in the framework of the information environment of joint force operations.