6th European Conference - Academic Conferences

Karim Hamza and Van Dalen
From a military point of view, there is an enemy defined and specific actions and procedures are
prepared for defense or attack, but with eGovernance not all enemies are defined or detected which
encourages delivering a concept to detect such enemies or threats.
There were different definitions and concepts related to information warfare (Libicki, 1995)
Command-and-Control Warfare [C2W];
Intelligence-based Warfare [IBW];
Electronic Warfare [EW];
Psychological Operations [PSYOPS];
Hacker war software-based attacks on information systems;
Information Economic Warfare [IEW] war via the control of information trade;
Cyberwar [combat in the virtual realm].
As an example; The United States has substantial information-based resources, including complex
management systems and infrastructures involving the control of electric power, money flow, air
traffic, oil and gas, and other information-dependent items. U.S. allies and potential coalition partners
are similarly increasingly dependent on various information infrastructures. Conceptually, if and when
potential adversaries attempt to damage these systems using IW techniques, information warfare
inevitably takes on a strategic aspect. (Roger, Molander, Riddile, Wilson, 1996)
The Basic Features of Strategic Information Warfare:
Low entry cost: Unlike traditional weapon technologies, development of information- based
techniques does not require sizable financial resources or state sponsorship. Information systems
expertise and access to important networks may be the only prerequisites.
Blurred traditional boundaries: Traditional distinctions; public versus private interests, warlike
versus criminal behavior and geographic boundaries, such as those between nations as
historically defined, are complicated by the growing interaction within the information
infrastructure.
4. Types of information warfare: Cyber war / cyber crime / espionage
The Department of Defense (DoD) defines cyberspace as follows: A global domain within the
information environment consisting of the interdependent network of information technology
infrastructures, including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and
embedded processors and controllers. (DoD Dictionary of Military, 2008)
Recently, cyberspace which is becoming the main field of information warfare started to develop as a
military domain. To join the historic domains of land, sea, air, and space. All this might lead to a belief
that the historic constructs of war like force, offense, defense, and deterrence can be applied to
cyberspace with a little modification. But it must be understood in its own terms, and policy decisions
being made for these and other new commands must reflect such understanding. Attempts to transfer
policy constructs from other forms of warfare will not only fail but also hinder policy and
planning.(Libicki, 2009)
Normally the main targets for an Information Attack as Denning (1999) outlines the potential elements
in an information system that are prone to attack and exploitation as:
Data stores: for example, computer and human memories.
Communication channels: for example, humans, and telecommunication systems.
Sensors/input devices: for example, scanners, cameras, microphones, human senses.
Output devices: for example, disk writers, printers, human processes.
Manipulators of data: for example, microprocessors, humans, software.
Most related information warfare was as below:
Strategic Cyber-War: A campaign of Cyber-Attacks launched by one entity against a state and
its society, primarily but not exclusively for the purpose of affecting the target state’s behavior,
would be strategic Cyber-War. The attacking entity can be a state or a non-state actor (Libicki, 2009)
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