Information warfare are the actions taken to achieve
information superiority by affecting
information
systems while defending ones own information. There are basically 3 types of
information
warfare:
personal,
corporate, and
global. Information warfare is
battle no longer
done on a physical plane, but a
virtual one. Being big does not give you more
power, only
more
vulnerabilities. At the head of
military information
intelligence there is a so called
C3I.
C3I stands for
Command,
Control,
Communications, and
Intelligence.
IW weapons are now digital and harnessed by the power of computers. A computer virus is a
code fragment that copies itself into a larger program and executes when it’s host program
runs. The virus then replicates by copying itself to other programs and infecting those.
Nobody should be in awe that this type of program is used in IW because viruses are very
common in any computer based environment.
A worm however is an independent program which spreads by forever copying itself from
one computer to another usually over a network. Worms do not need a host program to
survive and they usually don’t modify other programs. Worms are usually a problem
because they eat up resources on a network causing loss of data and computer crashes. A
payload can be added to a worm to create a worse danger which has great destructive
potential.
A trojan horse is a program that disguises itself as a legitimate program which in fact
covertly executes malicious functions unknown to the user. Trojan horses can be hidden in
any program and are often hard to detect if obvious wrong doings are not seen by the user.
A logic bomb is a program or piece of code that when given a certain command or not
given a specific command will unleash a virus.
Other weapons of IW include nano machines, microbes, electronic jamming, high energy
radio frequency guns, and electromagnetic pulse bombs.
Personal information warfare is when an individual’s electronic privacy is attacked. The
attack is performed when a person’s confidential digital records and database entries are
revealed and exploited. The average person has little control over the information stored on
him or her. No longer is it necessary to set up surveillance with miniature cameras and
microphones to blackmail someone. All an information warrior needs is a phone line, a
computer, and access to certain existing databases. The information that can be extracted
from these existing databases are credit card bills, bank account information, financial
transactions, video rentals, medical history, prescriptions, criminal offenses, arrests, court
records, etc. One of the biggest threats in personal information warfare is identity theft.
Corporate information warfare is better known as stiff competition as well as espionage. It is
not hard to imagine a company investing $1,000,000 in a system which could break into a
competitor’s system which is worth $15,000,000. Then use that system to accidentally
unleash a virus which would destroy a competitor’s files on a new product which would set
them back and put the aggressor ahead. This type of warfare is also used to spread rumors to
shut down the competition with the help of the general population. The general population is
easily influenced by what they read in the newspaper, and every corporation wants them on
it’s side.
Global information warfare is fought often by the military. The war is between opposing
states or countries. This is what the CIA does best. Mostly it is the gathering of information
about foreign powers. If a third world country spent a tenth of it’s income on informational
weapons, they could damage the US in an unimaginable way. Damage such as shutting
down the banking system and wall street would take years to recover from and would make
the great depression look harmless. Information warfare opens up new horizons of cost
effectiveness for terrorists, enemy governments, or the kid at school that everyone picks on.
On any level a 35 cent phone call has the potential to alter the world.