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The Art of Cyber Conflict
If Sun Tzu were alive today, rather than in the fifth century BC, he would be on various stages and his strategies would be all the rage for individuals and organizations alike. In The Art of Cyber Conflict, Henry J. Sienkiewicz brings his strategic and practical experience to bear as he uses the timeless strategies from Sun Tzu's The Art of War in this highly relevant and exceptionally approachable guidebook.
From a technology-independent perspective, Henry focuses on knowing and understanding cyber, the cyber environment, the cyber actors, and this constantly evolving form of modern confl ict, while concurrently providing direct approaches to recognize, remediate, and resolve the underlying threats.
From a technology-independent perspective, Henry focuses on knowing and understanding cyber, the cyber environment, the cyber actors, and this constantly evolving form of modern confl ict, while concurrently providing direct approaches to recognize, remediate, and resolve the underlying threats.
186 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2017
About the author
Henry J. Sienkiewicz
5 books16 followersAn early member of the web community, Henry J. Sienkiewicz still remembers the day when Mosaic 1.0 was installed on his desktop. From his days at university when he focused on political philosophy and Asian Studies, he has always been intrigued with how people think about and cope with problems.
Henry J. Sienkiewicz served in multiple positions within the United States Federal Senior Executive Service from 2008 until 2013. Recently his primary focus has been in the area of cyber security and highly complex networks/systems. He is currently focused on some limited consulting and writing. His previous commercial experience was as the founder and chief executive officer for Open Travel Software, an award-winning software developer focused on the global travel community, and in the chief information officer role at three technology companies.
He or his companies have been the recipient of multiple awards for innovations or achievement in the technology industry. In 2013, Henry was named by ComputerWorld as Premier 100, a lifetime within the information technology community.
Henry holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Notre Dame and a master of science from Johns Hopkins University. He is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College. He retired as a United States Army Reserve lieutenant colonel in July 2008.
His second book, Untangled, was published in 2013. It was an Amazon best seller in December 2013. In 2006, he completed and published his first book, Centerlined, which dealt with interpersonal and organizational dynamics.
Henry J. Sienkiewicz served in multiple positions within the United States Federal Senior Executive Service from 2008 until 2013. Recently his primary focus has been in the area of cyber security and highly complex networks/systems. He is currently focused on some limited consulting and writing. His previous commercial experience was as the founder and chief executive officer for Open Travel Software, an award-winning software developer focused on the global travel community, and in the chief information officer role at three technology companies.
He or his companies have been the recipient of multiple awards for innovations or achievement in the technology industry. In 2013, Henry was named by ComputerWorld as Premier 100, a lifetime within the information technology community.
Henry holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Notre Dame and a master of science from Johns Hopkins University. He is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College. He retired as a United States Army Reserve lieutenant colonel in July 2008.
His second book, Untangled, was published in 2013. It was an Amazon best seller in December 2013. In 2006, he completed and published his first book, Centerlined, which dealt with interpersonal and organizational dynamics.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 15, 2017
‘To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.’Sun Tzu
Henry J. Sienkiewicz has gained a BA from the University of Notre Dame and a MS from Johns Hopkins University. He is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College, having served in multiple positions within the United States Federal Senior Executive Service since 2008 since his retirement as a US Army Reserve lieutenant colonel. He also has extensive work in computers and computer software: he is the founder and chief executive officer for Open Travel Software, an award-winning software developer focused on the global travel community. Computer World named him a Premier 100 in 2013.
Who better to summarize and analyze the pros and cons of our current increasing obsession with communication through the ether – and the fear of hacking and loss of personal information and security of our finances etc – than Henry. The pleasure of reading his book is his erudite prose that places the facts before us and allows to muse about the threats and benefits of dependency on the Internet.
In his Introduction he states his purpose – ‘This book came out of a series of conversations I have had over the years with numerous cyber experts, corporate executives, colleagues, and military professionals. The discussions revolved around the topic of how to think about the problem of cyber, the noun that has become shorthand for a wide range of disparate topics to include the network, systems, applications, and digital devices; conflict in cyber; cyber conflict; cyber security; and cyber safety. I have met some of the most brilliant minds in cyber security and some of the most confused minds in cyber security. The brilliant minds have thought about technologies and solutions; the confused minds simply want to make their respective organizations safer amid the ever-changing nature of cyber. What is this book? This book is my response to those conversations. It is an approach to thinking about the complex problem of cyber and cyber conflict. It is intended to give executives and business managers a way to think about the problems surrounding cyber. Concurrently, this book offers the technical team a way to communicate some of the underlying problems in a straightforward fashion. What it isn’t? This is not a technical how-to manual. Technology is constantly changing and evolving. A specific series of detailed steps would quickly be dated. This book is structured to be highly approachable and provide a pathway for leaders and executives to better reflect and understand the issues surrounding cyber and cyber conflict. It is designed to provide cyber professionals a way to better communicate with their respective stakeholders.’
The wealth of information and advice Henry divides into chapters that are rich in content and make fascinating reading – Safe, Why Sun Tzu? (a true little masterpiece of writing), Cyber, Complementary Theories, Cyber Axioms, Approach, The Art of War and these are followed by his compendium of resource material and bibliography.
The use of the image on the book’s cover is well explained in Henry’s synopsis –‘If Sun Tzu were alive today, rather than in the fifth century BC, he would be on various stages and his strategies would be all the rage for individuals and organizations alike. The Art of Cyber Conflict brings Henry’s strategic and practical experience to bear as he uses the timeless strategies from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War in this highly relevant and exceptionally approachable guidebook. From a technology-independent perspective, Henry focuses on knowing and understanding cyber, the cyber environment, the cyber actors, and this constantly evolving form of modern conflict, while concurrently providing direct approaches to recognize, remediate, and resolve the underlying threats.’
Superb contribution and outstanding writing make this a must own book. Highly Recommended.
Henry J. Sienkiewicz has gained a BA from the University of Notre Dame and a MS from Johns Hopkins University. He is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College, having served in multiple positions within the United States Federal Senior Executive Service since 2008 since his retirement as a US Army Reserve lieutenant colonel. He also has extensive work in computers and computer software: he is the founder and chief executive officer for Open Travel Software, an award-winning software developer focused on the global travel community. Computer World named him a Premier 100 in 2013.
Who better to summarize and analyze the pros and cons of our current increasing obsession with communication through the ether – and the fear of hacking and loss of personal information and security of our finances etc – than Henry. The pleasure of reading his book is his erudite prose that places the facts before us and allows to muse about the threats and benefits of dependency on the Internet.
In his Introduction he states his purpose – ‘This book came out of a series of conversations I have had over the years with numerous cyber experts, corporate executives, colleagues, and military professionals. The discussions revolved around the topic of how to think about the problem of cyber, the noun that has become shorthand for a wide range of disparate topics to include the network, systems, applications, and digital devices; conflict in cyber; cyber conflict; cyber security; and cyber safety. I have met some of the most brilliant minds in cyber security and some of the most confused minds in cyber security. The brilliant minds have thought about technologies and solutions; the confused minds simply want to make their respective organizations safer amid the ever-changing nature of cyber. What is this book? This book is my response to those conversations. It is an approach to thinking about the complex problem of cyber and cyber conflict. It is intended to give executives and business managers a way to think about the problems surrounding cyber. Concurrently, this book offers the technical team a way to communicate some of the underlying problems in a straightforward fashion. What it isn’t? This is not a technical how-to manual. Technology is constantly changing and evolving. A specific series of detailed steps would quickly be dated. This book is structured to be highly approachable and provide a pathway for leaders and executives to better reflect and understand the issues surrounding cyber and cyber conflict. It is designed to provide cyber professionals a way to better communicate with their respective stakeholders.’
The wealth of information and advice Henry divides into chapters that are rich in content and make fascinating reading – Safe, Why Sun Tzu? (a true little masterpiece of writing), Cyber, Complementary Theories, Cyber Axioms, Approach, The Art of War and these are followed by his compendium of resource material and bibliography.
The use of the image on the book’s cover is well explained in Henry’s synopsis –‘If Sun Tzu were alive today, rather than in the fifth century BC, he would be on various stages and his strategies would be all the rage for individuals and organizations alike. The Art of Cyber Conflict brings Henry’s strategic and practical experience to bear as he uses the timeless strategies from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War in this highly relevant and exceptionally approachable guidebook. From a technology-independent perspective, Henry focuses on knowing and understanding cyber, the cyber environment, the cyber actors, and this constantly evolving form of modern conflict, while concurrently providing direct approaches to recognize, remediate, and resolve the underlying threats.’
Superb contribution and outstanding writing make this a must own book. Highly Recommended.
January 23, 2018
In this book, Sienkiewicz argues that the various problems we have on the internet, such as denial of service, hacking, theft of data, etc, is a form of conflict, and as such can be viewed in terms of The Art of War, by Sun Tzu. My first question here is, who was this nook written for? There are many parts of The Art of War that relate to offensive options (naturally, because someone has to launch an offensive campaign for there to be a war) but most computer users cannot launch such attacks because, leaving aside other difficulties, it would be illegal. Now that would not necessarily apply to the US Army, for which Sienkiewicz previously worked, nor for some other agencies such as the CIA, provided the US government ordered such action, but for the general user, that would be irrelevant. Then some of the advice is that when under attack, mobilize your legal department, your response team, and a number of others. Maybe a huge multinational might have such entities, the army and organizations like the NSA presumably would, but most others will not. Further, while much of what Sun Tzu wrote remains relevant for modern military conflict, with obvious modifications, the links with cyber conflict are, in my opinion, somewhat tenuous at times. The advice "Know thyself" is obviously relevant, but "Know thine enemy" is less so because most internet users have no means of identifying the attacker. The analogies with some other advice, such as to take the sunny side of high ground, were in my opinion, a little tenuous and were more made to support the thesis. However, the advice to examine your own potential weaknesses are obvious, and the advice to hire external skilled hackers to find what you miss has a clear significance. Some other advice, such as to insert a whole lot of false data is also an interesting approach. One thing that did not appear was something I put in one of my novels: take control systems offline. If they are only controlling equipment, why are they connected?
The book offers a lot to think about, and the author has put a lot of effort into this. Early on there are very large lists of various definitions and terms, which is necessary but a little overwhelming at first.. The book then goes through the parts of The Art of War and Sienkiewicz links his thesis to what Sun Tzu wrote. The book does not give any specific advice because as the author properly points out, any attempt to do this would be useless because technology changes so fast. However, that leaves the reader with the problem of working things out for themselves. I should add as a disclaimer that I am an author and wrote one thriller involving hacking, and I purchased this book in the hope of gaining a deeper knowledge. I ended up with the conclusion that everything was too abstract to be useful to me. So, I suggest this is more a "general interest" book or a scene-setting book rather than something that will lead you to specific action. I may be wrong.
The book offers a lot to think about, and the author has put a lot of effort into this. Early on there are very large lists of various definitions and terms, which is necessary but a little overwhelming at first.. The book then goes through the parts of The Art of War and Sienkiewicz links his thesis to what Sun Tzu wrote. The book does not give any specific advice because as the author properly points out, any attempt to do this would be useless because technology changes so fast. However, that leaves the reader with the problem of working things out for themselves. I should add as a disclaimer that I am an author and wrote one thriller involving hacking, and I purchased this book in the hope of gaining a deeper knowledge. I ended up with the conclusion that everything was too abstract to be useful to me. So, I suggest this is more a "general interest" book or a scene-setting book rather than something that will lead you to specific action. I may be wrong.
February 7, 2018
Firstly, I will say the book is well-researched, well-referenced, and well-presented.
I think that the reader experience of this will depend on where one falls in a Venn diagram of “people who have read the Art of War” and “people who have knowledge of hacking / cybersecurity”, with at least this latter category being a gradient from those who have a slightly better than average knowledge of the field, to those who work in the industry.
Me, I have read the Art of War and revisit it every few years, so I was already quite aware of its content. To this end, a lot of the book involved page-flipping for me, since the format involves presenting extracts from the Art of War, and then discussing cybersecurity within the frame of some of the ideas from the foregoing extract.
Personally, I was more interested in the cybersecurity aspect than in the correct manner of approaching salt marshes on foot when the sun is rising and the enemy troops have marched a long way but one isn’t sure how many they number.
In the matter of cybersecurity, if you’re looking for an understanding of how to fortify your network against attacks, this isn’t it. This is for the first fair part of the book an overview of the field of cybersecurity, who does what and why, and for the latter part of the book, a lot of reminders of the dangers and how very different cyber conflict is from the warfare of Sun Tzu’s time.
For my part, I found I didn’t learn anything that was helpful to me. I already have a slightly better than average knowledge of the field (just from reading stuff by friends who work in the industry; I am no expert myself). My passwords are unguessable by humans and would take modern supercomputers over a trillion years to brute-force. I don’t have anything in single copy that can be held hostage by ransomware. I use two factor authentication. I have an anti-zombie strategy that I’m not going to discuss here. Does my system have weak points? I’m sure it does. I do my best, and I didn’t find anything in this book to increase that.
However, if you ARE looking for a primer of sorts, an overview of the industry and who does what and how and why, and what sorts of problems to start looking at addressing, this is the book for you. It won’t solve those problems, but it’ll make you aware of how to start approaching the task, and that can be the most daunting aspect for many.
I think that the reader experience of this will depend on where one falls in a Venn diagram of “people who have read the Art of War” and “people who have knowledge of hacking / cybersecurity”, with at least this latter category being a gradient from those who have a slightly better than average knowledge of the field, to those who work in the industry.
Me, I have read the Art of War and revisit it every few years, so I was already quite aware of its content. To this end, a lot of the book involved page-flipping for me, since the format involves presenting extracts from the Art of War, and then discussing cybersecurity within the frame of some of the ideas from the foregoing extract.
Personally, I was more interested in the cybersecurity aspect than in the correct manner of approaching salt marshes on foot when the sun is rising and the enemy troops have marched a long way but one isn’t sure how many they number.
In the matter of cybersecurity, if you’re looking for an understanding of how to fortify your network against attacks, this isn’t it. This is for the first fair part of the book an overview of the field of cybersecurity, who does what and why, and for the latter part of the book, a lot of reminders of the dangers and how very different cyber conflict is from the warfare of Sun Tzu’s time.
For my part, I found I didn’t learn anything that was helpful to me. I already have a slightly better than average knowledge of the field (just from reading stuff by friends who work in the industry; I am no expert myself). My passwords are unguessable by humans and would take modern supercomputers over a trillion years to brute-force. I don’t have anything in single copy that can be held hostage by ransomware. I use two factor authentication. I have an anti-zombie strategy that I’m not going to discuss here. Does my system have weak points? I’m sure it does. I do my best, and I didn’t find anything in this book to increase that.
However, if you ARE looking for a primer of sorts, an overview of the industry and who does what and how and why, and what sorts of problems to start looking at addressing, this is the book for you. It won’t solve those problems, but it’ll make you aware of how to start approaching the task, and that can be the most daunting aspect for many.
June 14, 2017
The Art of Cyber Conflict by Henry J. Sienkiewicz is a thoroughly written, educational, eye-opening and illuminating "war room" road map on combating the reality of cyper attacks.
The author argues that cyper warfare is the new world conflict facing global entities. Those entities include corporations, businesses and personal technology devices. The quest or goal of the aggressor is to disrupt technology with the ultimate goal of "stealing" data. Declaring these actions as acts of war, the author approaches this real conflict by drawing on The Art of Warfare by Sun Tzu. He further argues and quite convincingly demonstrates how these various cyper attacks can be handled and thwarted through warfare philosphies and strategies.
The fully credentialed author, Henry J Sienkiewicz, has extensive experience as a consultant to companies regarding cyper security. Additionally, his resume includes being a member of the United States Senior Executive Service and specifically assigned to the Defense Information Systems Agency. He also served as a reservist in the U.S. Army and holds the rank of Lt. Col. (R).
Certainly, given his army background, he is uniquely qualified to draw numerous parallels in his writing which cites various corollations to The Art of War writing written by Sun Tzu.
The author clearly states that there is no silver bullet in regards to cyber attacks being completely stopped, but this book should be on the IT shelf of every business and corporation and even for the casual user of technology. The writing will certainly elevate one's attention to this matter and increase their commitment to being vigilant against cyber attacks.
The author argues that cyper warfare is the new world conflict facing global entities. Those entities include corporations, businesses and personal technology devices. The quest or goal of the aggressor is to disrupt technology with the ultimate goal of "stealing" data. Declaring these actions as acts of war, the author approaches this real conflict by drawing on The Art of Warfare by Sun Tzu. He further argues and quite convincingly demonstrates how these various cyper attacks can be handled and thwarted through warfare philosphies and strategies.
The fully credentialed author, Henry J Sienkiewicz, has extensive experience as a consultant to companies regarding cyper security. Additionally, his resume includes being a member of the United States Senior Executive Service and specifically assigned to the Defense Information Systems Agency. He also served as a reservist in the U.S. Army and holds the rank of Lt. Col. (R).
Certainly, given his army background, he is uniquely qualified to draw numerous parallels in his writing which cites various corollations to The Art of War writing written by Sun Tzu.
The author clearly states that there is no silver bullet in regards to cyber attacks being completely stopped, but this book should be on the IT shelf of every business and corporation and even for the casual user of technology. The writing will certainly elevate one's attention to this matter and increase their commitment to being vigilant against cyber attacks.
June 13, 2017
The Art of Cyber Conflict by Henry J. Sienkiewicz is a comprehensive look at the world of cyber security, whether dealing with it on a personal level, or on a professional basis. With Sun Sun Tzu's- The Art of War as a starting point, Sienkiewicz lays out the strategies necessary to protect oneself from a disastrous wake up call that can come in the form of someone hacking into your computer. With strategic and practical experience behind him, the author lays out a guidebook that deals with the present day threat of conflict that is contained within the cyber world. This is the war that we must now deal with every day, and be ever aware of. While not offering specific solutions or a technical approach, this book clearly is designed as an overview to a complex subject, written within a classic framework of war and conquering the enemy. This is a thoughtful book about cyber security that is not to be missed.
June 21, 2017
I found that this book went over my head and really bored me. I do know some about computers and how to run them but and not an expert. While the author does a great job of providing details and historical facts I didn’t feel that this book was written for the everyday person. The book was informative for those looking to learn much more about computer protections. While this book was meant to be helpful to the reader I found that it just bored me with the information and I really had a hard time reading this book. I didn’t like the idea of written with the works of the Art of War it’s what made me want to read this book. But I felt like I was back in high school listening to that old teacher with the never changing voice and my attention kept straying in other directions.
September 27, 2017
I never received the book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews