PortolanBearings Network · FreeCyberspace Operations (DCO · OCO · DODIN Ops)
Cyberspace Operations is the mission of defending friendly networks (DCO), assuring the operation of the DoD Information Network (DODIN Ops), and holding adversary cyber terrain at risk (OCO). It spans firewalls and endpoint protection, threat hunt teams, offensive access operations against adversary command-and-control, coalition information sharing, and the industrial-control-system layer that underpins critical infrastructure. Cyber Command's Cyber Mission Force is the operational element; NSA provides SIGINT support; individual services run their own network operations. Modern cyber operations increasingly integrate with kinetic operations to deliver joint effects.
- 1ReconnoiterMap adversary cyber terrain + friendly attack surface.
- 2AccessEstablish presence on target networks.
- 3PersistMaintain access + expand privilege.
- 4EffectDeny, degrade, disrupt, or exploit.
- 5DefendHunt, contain, evict adversary presence.
Every mission the DoD executes now has a cyber dependency — logistics, satellite comms, targeting, precision munitions, command-and-control. The 2020 SolarWinds compromise, the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware event, the ongoing Volt Typhoon pre-positioning campaign against US critical infrastructure, and Russia's cyber activity in Ukraine have all made cyber operations a peer capability — not a niche one. Defense of the DoDIN is now a warfighting-scale mission, and offensive access operations are increasingly integrated into joint kinetic planning.