C4I system security architecture: A perspective on big data lifecycle in a military environment

Although the defense field is also one of the key areas that use big data for security reasons, there is a lack of study that designs system frameworks and presents security requirements to implement big data in defense. However, we overcome the security matters by examining the battlefield environment and the system through the flow of data in the battlefield. As such, this research was conducted to apply big data in the defense domain, which is a unique field. In particular, a three‐layered system framework was designed to apply big data in the C4I system, which collects, manages, and analyzes data generated from the battlefield, and the security measures required for each layer were developed. First, to enhance the general understanding of big data and the military environment, an overview of the C4I system, the characteristics of the 6V’s, and the five‐phase big data lifecycle were described. While presenting a framework that divides the C4I system into three layers, the roles and components of each layer are described in detail, considering the big data lifecycle and system framework. A security architecture is finally proposed by specifying security requirements for each field in the three‐layered C4I system. The proposed system framework and security architecture more accurately explain the unique nature of the military domain than those studied in healthcare, smart grids, and smart cities; development directions requiring further research are described.