Cyber Wargaming

Cyber Wargaming: Research and Education for Security in a Dangerous Digital World. Frank L. Smith III, Nina A. Kollars, and Benjamin H. Schecter, editors. Washington, DC: Georgetown UP, 2023. Available in hardcover, paperback, and Ebook.

Anthology of essays, described by publishers as, "A first-of-its-kind theoretical overview and practical guide to wargame design".

From back cover publisher's blurb (on-line as of October 2024 at linked webpage).

Government, industry, and academia need better tools to explore threats, opportunities, and human interactions in cyberspace. The interactive exercises called cyber wargames are a powerful way to solve complex problems in a digital environment that involves both cooperation and conflict. Cyber Wargaming is the first book to provide both the theories and practical examples needed to successfully build, play, and learn from these interactive exercises.

The contributors to this book explain what cyber wargames are, how they work, and why they offer insights that other methods cannot match. The lessons learned are not merely artifacts of these games — they also shed light on how people interpret and interact with cyberspace in real life. This book covers topics such as cyber action during conventional war, information effects in conflict scenarios, individual versus group decision-making, the intersection of cyber conflicts and nuclear crises, business resilience, emerging technologies, and more.[1]

We will note gratefully the intent of the editors to produce a volume for a wide audience: a rigorously scholarly work in accessible English.

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BRIEF CONTENTS

Introduction by editors, "Shall We Play a Game? Fundamentals of Cyber Wargaming"

The reference to the 1983 John Badham movie is made explicit on p. 2, with a paragraph noting that Pres. Ronald Reagan saw the film and inquired if the scenario, if unlikely, was possible; told that it was, Reagan issued a national security decision directive to tighten what we would call cybersecurity.

Uses the term "cyberspace" routinely (for which see the work of William Gibson and succeeding cyberpunks).

Asserts that "wargaming is not only about war [... but] about human decision-making and the consequences of those decisions, particularly in the face of conflict and uncertainty" (p. 2). For "the human/machine interface" (quoting us, not the editors — and with "machine" a figure of speech for "technologies"), note the repetition that "[...] war-games focus on what people might decide to do when faced with adversity and the consequences of their prior decisions" (p. 4).  

PART I: RESEARCH GAMES [By various people]

Chapter 2 Cyber Wargames as Synthetic Data

Chapter 3 Waqrgame Research on Cyber and Nuclear Crisis Dynamics

Chapter 4 Wargaming International and Domestic Crises: Island Intercept and Netwar

Chapter 5 Imperfect Information in Conventional War Gaming

Chapter 6 Adding Time to the Cyber Kill Chain: The "Merlin" Tool for Wargaming

Chapter 7 Games within Games: Cognition, Social Groups, and Critical Infrastructure

PART II: EDUCATIONAL GAMES [By various people]

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Chapter 11 Breaching the C-Suite: Cyber Wargaming In the Private Sector

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Chapter 14 Matrix Game Methodologies for Strategic Cyber and Information Warfare

PART III Conclusion

Chapter 15 Balancing Zealots and Skeptics About Emerging Technology: A Wargaming Blueprint for Innovation

There's a useful Index and a list of Contributors, plus two Tables — "Principles of War," and "Actors Played in the Great [Cyber] Game — and sixteen Figures.

Note also cover of paperback edition: Earth seen through hexagons.[2][3]

RDE, finishing, with thanks to Roger Mason, 22Oct24 f.