cyber-exercise-control · diff
git:20260929.bdf124b to git:20261026.92d06c4
17 added, 15 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: cyber-exercise-control
guardrail: true
description: Controls authorized cybersecurity exercises through inject scheduling, safety gates, stop and restart decisions, communications, and synthetic-data boundaries. Use when serving as exercise control or white-team coordinator, not as compliance assessor or whitehat operator.
metadata:
labels: [cybersecurity, exercise-control, white-team]
triggers:
keywords: [exercise control, white team, exercise inject, stop exercise, restart exercise, exercise safety gate]
---
# Cyber Exercise Control
## **Priority: P0 (CRITICAL)**
Coordinate a bounded exercise; control safety and adjudication handoffs without performing attacks or certifying compliance.
## Structure
```text
cyber-exercise-control/
├── SKILL.md
├── references/control-log.md
└── evals/evals.json
```
## Workflow
-
- 1. Confirm approved plan, authorization, exclusions, runtime support, roles, and synthetic-data boundary.
- 2. Publish schedule and injects with owner, trigger, expected channel, and abort condition.
- 3. Log each release, pause, stop, restart, scope change, and escalation with time and authority.
- 4. Stop on authorization expiry, scope drift, unsafe impact, data exposure, or unsupported runtime.
- 5. Restart only after fresh authorization/runtime gates and a recorded decision.
- 6. Hand observations to independent adjudication; preserve evidence and ground truth separately.
-
+ 1. Confirm approved plan, mode per step (`analysis`, `replay`, `isolated-lab-validation`, `defensive-verification`), authorization, exclusions, runtime support, and synthetic boundaries.
+ 2. Manage execution states using StepResult schema (`planned`, `eligible`, `running`, `completed`, `blocked`, `stopped`, `failed`, `dependency-blocked`).
+ 3. Publish schedule and injects with step ID, trigger, expected channel, limits, and abort conditions.
+ 4. Stop immediately on expiry, drift, unsafe impact, data exposure, or operator signal; host stop dominates concurrent dispatch.
+ 5. Record partial receipts upon cancellation; execute teardown under surviving authority; disclose residual state in CleanupResult.
+ 6. Mark steps lacking predecessor evidence as `dependency-blocked` with `evidence-missing` naming producer; advance independent permitted steps.
+ 7. Restart requires explicit restart authority, reconciled residual boundary, fresh host proofs, new attempt ID, fresh correlation key, and a fresh GateDecision.
## Rules
- - White team means exercise control and adjudication coordination here; it does not mean compliance or whitehat testing.
- - Keep offline inject design available when live controls are unsupported.
- - Do not issue attack commands, alter production, handle real credentials, or contact real targets.
- - Use shared evidence fields and canonical `artifacts/security-review.md` when applicable.
- Control records carry `engagement_scope_ref`, `skill_version`, `source`, `observed_at`, `finding_status`, `evidence_refs`, `limitations`, and `accountable_owner`.
-
+ - Coordinate safety and lifecycle; do not issue attack commands, alter production, handle real credentials, or contact real targets.
+ - StepResult invariants: `block_reason` required on `blocked`, `stopped`, `failed`, `dependency-blocked`; null on `planned`, `eligible`, `running`, `completed`.
+ - Adverse timeline dominance: Host enforces constraints continuously. Pre-dispatch failure is `blocked`; running failure, drift, or stop transitions to `stopped` with partial receipts (never merely `blocked`).
+ - Lost acknowledgement: If action or cancellation acknowledgement is lost, stop dispatch immediately to reconcile unknown in-flight effects; automatic active replay is strictly prohibited.
+ - Dependency isolation: Predecessor blocks never halt independent branches (AC-CLV-09); missing producer evidence marks dependent steps `dependency-blocked` without guessing inputs (AC-CLV-10).
+ - Teardown lifecycle: Cleanup requires valid surviving teardown authority; unverified teardown reports `residual` or `unverified` with accountable owner (AC-CLV-13).
+ - Terminal attempt immutability: Reusing prior or expired gates is forbidden; restarts require explicit restart authority, reconciled residual boundary, fresh proofs, and a new attempt/gate (AC-CLV-06).
+ - Hand observations to independent adjudication; preserve evidence and ground truth separately.
## Anti-Patterns
- **No silent scope change**: Pause and re-authorize.
- **No self-adjudication**: Control does not grade its own outcome.
- **No fake safety**: Markdown cannot enforce runtime restrictions.
- **No forced continuity**: Stop is valid evidence.
## References
- [Control log](references/control-log.md)
- - [Authorization matrix](../cyber-authorization/references/runtime-authorization-matrix.md)
+ - [Lab execution gate and lifecycle](../cyber-lab-validation/references/execution-gate.md)
+ - [Runtime authorization matrix](../cyber-authorization/references/runtime-authorization-matrix.md)