A Review of Layered Models of Cyberspace and and Proposal of a New Model

In today's world, cyberspace has become an integral part of human life, fulfilling many of humanity's needs through the various capabilities provided by this technology. This technological transformation, while offering advantages such as speed, simplicity, and accuracy in delivering diverse services to users, has also posed challenges for governments. One of the most critical requirements for effective management of cyberspace is the understanding of its various components and how they interconnect. This understanding can only be achieved by simplifying and constraining cyberspace within a model. A layered model typically represents the constituent components in a vertical structure as interdependent layers. The aim of this paper is to provide a narrative review of the layered models proposed for cyberspace in order to identify a comprehensive and easily understandable model for managing and governing cyberspace. For this purpose, a search of reputable online databases yielded 57 papers or books, which were studied, and 19 unique layered models were identified. The identified layered models were categorized into four groups, and the models have been compared based on the coverage of cyberspace components and the level of overlap between the layers of different models. The results of this research indicate that the existing layered models are not sufficiently comprehensive to provide effective management of cyberspace, and the proposed new model could fill this gap.