Abstract:

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conducts a Global Cybersecurity survey to raise awareness of cyber weapons and foster a global cybersecurity culture. The study in 2014 measured the commitment of Member States to cybersecurity. The second in 2018 estimated the commitment of ITU Member States to cybersecurity to drive further efforts in the adoption and integration of cybersecurity on a global scale. However, ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Index fails to provide high-level defense decision-makers with appropriate information for assessing cyberwar readiness. Nations can neither rest nor double their efforts based on their GCI ranking since neither nation's commitment, high or low, reflects cybercriminals' interest or capacity rate to launch cyberattacks on a country's cyberinfrastructure. Resting or acting on GCI performance is likened to ticking off as available all the weapons necessary in the outbreak of war without reflecting on how well your weapons will or should perform in the face of adversity or a more sophisticated weapon. A new concept and replicator dynamic behavior model for assessing cyberwar readiness and resilience of a nation that may be more helpful is proposed.