The United States (US) has approximately 125 million
computers communicating through complex land- and
satellite-based communications systems and is leading
the world into a globally networked society.
As defined by Winn Schwartau, Information Warfare: Chaos on the Electronic Superhighway (1994):
"Information Warfare is an electronic conflict in which information is a strategic asset worthy of conquest or destruction. Computers and other communications and information systems become attractive first-strike targets."
The author's definition:
"Information Warfare is a war in which the weapons of warfare are not guns and bombs and bullets that visibly destroy flesh, blood and bone, but electronic and electromagnetic weapons that could:
While these claims sound too far fetched to even comprehend, they are a real possibility because of the importance of the Global Information Superhighway (GIS) and the vast amount of computers communicating with each other via the GIS.
The United States (US) has approximately 125 million
computers communicating through complex land- and
satellite-based communications systems and is leading
the world into a globally networked society.
The business and financial sectors of the US rely heavily upon computers and telecommunications devices:
With US and world economies so dependent upon acquiring, manipulating, transferring, and managing vast amounts of information and information systems, we have all become easy targets for today's Information Warriors (IWs).
We have become "digitally addicted" to our computers and networks thereby increasing our vulnerability even more to individuals who desire and plan to hurt us as individuals, businesses, governments, and nations.
The unique history of US economics has plummeted our country into greater risk of being sabotaged economically. After all, the likelihood of another country physically attacking the US is almost zero (0). However, the US economy has become an asset of national security; and, anyone wanting to destroy the US must first destroy its economic system.
To explain this further, it is necessary to understand how the US economic system has developed throughout the last fifty years.
After World War II (WWII) on July 22, 1944, the US signed the Bretton Woods Agreement. For a 30-year period (1944-1974), the world's major currencies were locked onto the American dollar which, in turn, was locked onto the price of gold residing in banks and other locations in the country. Although some scholars may disagree with the economic merits of a system like this, it did maintain some form of stability within the US and the entire world because the price of a physical commodity, gold, determined the value of the US dollar.
However, on August 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill that in one swift, almost unnoticed stroke of the pen entirely obliterated the dollar- backed economic structure of the US by permitting the dollar to fluctuate along with the rest of the world's currencies.
Additionally, as the Global computer networks grew by leaps and bounds, each country's fluctuating currency is monitored and tracked by the buying and selling of stock options and futures traded on a 24-hour period all around the world. The world's "wall streets" now rely on computers and telecommunications networks to transact millions of dollars worth of business per second.
Literally, the price of the American dollar and the currencies of the world reside within this realm we refer to as Cyberspace-in the midst of computer systems and network cables too vast to even picture in one's mind. Consequently, with such vast sums of money-real only within the realm of Cyberspace-the wealth and survival of nations could depend solely upon:
As discussed earlier, the IW's strategies of attack upon the information and computer systems of the US and the world are:
One does not have to be an Albert Einstein to realize the damage that could be done to the US economy if any one or more of the above events occurred at an international level. But, perhaps there is one more strategy that has not been discussed yet and not listed above-ignorance. It is our ignorance of the weapons used by IWs to accomplish their means, and it is ignorance, coupled with denial that this warfare is serious business, that will be our greatest vulnerability.
Most of us are familiar with computer viruses and what that can do to a computer or network system. One can even purchase a book on how to create a computer virus ("The Little Black Book of Computer Viruses" by Mark Ludwig) and similar instructions reside for free on the Internet.
Just as a physical virus makes an individual ill creating a wide variety of symptoms within the human body, a computer virus can accomplish the same goals within a computer or computer system.
Computer viruses may:
There are two ways of "sniffing" out information on a communications system:
IPX Permissive is available to IWs and reads and deciphers Novell network packets.
By using a magnetic inductor (or also called a current probe or transducer) instead of a hardwire connection, this passive sniffing device accomplishes two goals:
Since these devices can be mounted upon public switched telephone equipment (given the right circumstances), the IW now has a vast amount of knowledge and information at his fingertips which he may use as he pleases.
A computer broadcasts information into the electromagnetic spectrum that encompasses the physical air and surroundings where it is physically located. Miniature receivers placed near the computer can electromagnetically eavesdrop on television and radio signals, and voice or data communications.
Electromagnetic Eavesdropping is sometimes called Van Eck detection or radiation named after the Dutch scientist, Professor Wim van Eck, who in 1985 published an unclassified paper stating:
"...it seems justified to estimate the maximum reception distance using only a normal TV receiver at around 1km..."
Even Tempested computers were not safe from this form of electromagnetic eavesdropping.
According to the US Department of Defense (DoD), cryptography and nuclear technology are two of the most sensitive areas of scientific research because they both represent military strength.
If the IW can crack the cryptographic codes used by the Government in its daily communications business or in the banking industry for electronic transfer of funds, he can access information and money without anyone being the wiser. He could sell the information or transfer monetary funds into his own bank account within another country.
The US Government has adopted the Data Encryption Standard (DES) as the national standard for data protection. The National Security Agency (NSA) had DES classified as a "weapons system" thereby making it illegal to export DES outside the US without the approval of NSA, the Department of State and the Department of Commerce.
On the surface, it appears the US has taken strong measures to keep DES out of the hands of the wrong individuals. But, Winn Schwartau tells how DES has been exploited (1984):
"Since DES was a national standard, it was entered into the public domain and the DES algorithms were openly published for anyone to see. For the price of a stamp, any American or even a foreign national could, and can, write to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and receive a copy of the DES standard. Despite the fact that DES was controlled as a weapon, we published--and gave away free--the instruction manual and parts lists, enabling anyone and any country to build their own. That's like sending a Patriot Missile kit to Libya or Iran with a note saying, "Please don't build this."
We have just handed the IWs of the world a free course in cracking anyone's communications if they use DES. The IW would say, "Who says the best things in life aren't free?"
The most important part of a computer is its Central Processing Unit (CPU), and the most important part of the CPU is the microprocessor.
This can happen innocently because of human error.
HERF (High Energy Radio Frequency) Guns are magnetic guns that target the electronic circuits within a computer system rather than a human being. With enough energy, an electronic weapon like this could literally "fry" a computer's hardware parts actually sending them up in smoke.
The ElectroMagnetic Pulse Transformer, or EMP/T Bomb, is identical to the HERF Gun except that it's a thousand times more powerful.
These types of weapons are nonlethal to human beings, yet they can destroy the human's ability to conduct and execute military activities rendering him helpless. They can be used to destroy aircraft by targeting the electronics. When the airplane crashes, not a trace of foulplay can be found.
The preceding information only touches upon the surface of what has become information warfare in Cyberspace. As long as human beings live and work on planet Earth, there will always be those individuals who:
