The document discusses social networks and their role in securing cyberspace. It argues that social networks like the Cyber Security Forum Initiative (CSFI) and Military Cyber Professionals Association (MCPA) can help secure cyberspace by enabling professionals to connect, share information, and solve problems collectively. These organizations work to increase participation by offering free membership and reducing barriers. By bringing together people with different backgrounds, social networks like CSFI and MCPA can greatly increase information sharing and speed of problem solving. They help build trust within the community to address cyber threats.

1. The Role of
Social Networks in
Securing Cyberspace:
Opportunities
v and Threats
Advisory Board Member,
Cyber Security Forum Initiative
Founder, Military Cyber
Professionals Association
Many in American society today equate social networks with
online communities such as Google+ and Linkedln. However,
social networks have existed since the dawn of man. While the
prominence of social networks continues to grow and has proven
to be a rich research area, we already know a lot about their
characteristics. For those of us interested in securing cyberspace
(with an understanding that citizens typically do not want the most
vulnerable among us required to fend for themselves in a lawless world),
we can make use of what we know about social networks. By recognizing the
role of social networks in securing cyberspace, we can better exploit techniques
like crowdsourcing and manage threats with more confidence in each other.
What we casually call crowdsourcing is in fact a complex series of interactions
that capitalizes on diverse perspectives being applied to common problems.
Creating an environment that enables this type of synergy or collective
intelligence takes deliberate effort to design effectively. Some considerations
for designing effective crowdsourcing networks include:
Increasing cognitive diversity and range of expertise
Modularizing collaboration
Reducing barriers to participation
Encouraging small contributions
Developing a rich and well-structured information commons1
The Cyber Security Forum Initiative (CSFI) and the Military Cyber Professionals
Association (MCPA) were created to help professionals connect, crowdsource,
and better secure cyberspace as a team. Although their approaches
differ in scale and focus, with CSFI embracing a much wider
membership base than the DoD-centric MCPA, both were
designed to enable communication and partnership. For
example, both organizations leverage well-structured
information commons like Linkedln, attract relatively diverse
personnel, and reduce barriers to participation by offering
free membership.2-3
If
© United States Cybersecurity Magazine

2. By creating potential ties between personnel with very different
backgrounds, social networks such as CSFI and MCPA greatly
increase the speed of problem-solving and information flow from
one part of the social network to another. The strength of weak
ties such as these is in the value of the new information that a local
community would otherwise never be exposed to.4 Once such a community is
cultivated to the point of critical mass, such connections (online and off) become
commonplace and happen organically, and new professional identities begin to
emerge. These identities are important to developing norms, elevating the level
of discussions, and making for a more attractive community (think recruitment and
retention).5These goals, applied to the grand effort of securing cyberspace, have
been identified for years and remain valid.6Luckily, organizations such as CSFI and
MCPA are making steady progress in this area.7
Every piece of modern information technology is essentially hackable, and every
online persona is potentially false. With this reality in mind, building social networks
that people trust enough to participate in is risky business. However, social networks
enable a web of trust to emerge that can address very real threats, such as those
posed by malicious impostors. The foundations of this trust are the strong ties
between individuals who know each other online and off. These are colleagues
who can pick up a phone or walk over to each other and fact-check. While multiple
parallel efforts to verify online personas come at a real cost, it is an investment
that minimizes risk and enables a certain level of trust to emerge.
Since security and prosperity are the most vital of interests to every country,
securing cyberspace to allow for these continued benefits is common ground. As we
move forward together towards this shared goal, CSFI and MCPA look forward
to the emergence and growth of many more social networks that they can
proudly call partners,
Sources______________
1. Nielsen, Michael. Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of
Networked Science. Princeton University Press, 2011.
2. Fortner, Amanda. "Defense in the Age of Cyber-Warfare:
The Cyber Security Forum Initiative." Edited by Paul De
Souza. United States Cybersecurity Magazine, April 2015,
40-45.
3. Billingsley, Joseph L. "An Innovation Framework Applied
to a Military Cyber Professionals Association." Master's
thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2013. Calhoun: The
NPS Institutional Archive, September 2013. https://calhoun.
nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/37587/13Sep_Billingsley_
Joseph.pdf?sequence=1.
4. Granovetter, Mark S. "The Strength of Weak Ties." American
Journal of Sociology 78, no. 6 (May 01,1973): 1360-380.
Accessed September 23, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/10.2307/2776392?ref=no-x-route:49055104fa44cd3ee
64ddf42cb968ae1.
5. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.
6. United States of America. Department of Defense. THE
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CYBER STRATEGY. April 2015.
http://www.defense.g0v/P0rtals/l /features/2015/0415_cyber-
strategy/Final_2015_DoD_CYBER_STRATEGY_for_web.pdf.
7. See csfi.us and https://milcyber.org.
About the Author:
J. L. Billingsley serves on the
advisory board o f the Cyber
Security Forum Initiative.
He is the founder o f the
Military Cyber Professionals
Association, an officer in the U.S. Army,
and an Information Sciences Ph.D. student
with the Naval Postgraduate School.