Cyber War

The major world wars of this century as well as the minor wars that have occurred have advanced the weaponry and methods of conducting warfare. The United States is the undisputed leader in modern weapons of warfare. Even as the United States turns its attention to spaced based weapons of warfare, a most pervasive threat is now being addressed in this country-Cyber Warfare.

The Next War

The Next War will continue to have the U.S. as the undisputed leader in weapons technology as the U. S. continues along its spaced based initiatives loosely known as the “Star Wars Initiative”:

For an explanation of the themes of space-based warfare see:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/space-war.htm

However, the U. S. has or is trying to implement some impressive new technologies for future warfare as expressed by James Adams in his new book:

The Next World War: Computers Are The Weapons and the Front Lines are Everywhere

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743223802/qid=1024931958/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-7506524-4758516

This books talks briefly about some techno aspects of the next war. For Example:

Among the weapons to come: microwave cannons; plasma guns; devices that can see, smell, and hear; and even robotic "ants" that can swarm and explode around the enemy. Soldiers will wear uniforms powered by body heat that automatically relay important information back to their base camp. Helmets will be able to locate incoming fire, help a soldier see under all kinds of conditions, and locate others in a patrol.

These impressive new systems will however not protect the United States against it most pervasive enemy-the threat of Cyber Warfare and Attack. (Sometimes called Strategic Information Warfare)

Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military stands as an uncontested superpower in both conventional and nuclear force. This superiority has been achieved in its implementation of information technology. This reliance on information technology has made the U. S. the most vulnerable country with respect to Cyber Warfare.

What is Cyber Warfare (Strategic Information Warfare)?

Strategic Information Warfare includes a broad definition of the concepts of the information age technology combined with the global information structure (cyberspace) and its ability to put at risk the high value assets of a country.

Warfare used to be defined by its theater of operations-some battlefield “out there”, cyber warfare has brought the battlefield home. There is no general battlefield—it could be anywhere satellites and the World Wide Web operate. The enemy doesn’t have to be a nation, just a group of like-minded individuals connected by the web in chat rooms.

The convergence of Strategic Warfare as defined by smart weapons and the information technology growth has produced this new warfare.

Since no country can match the United States in weaponry, the best approach would be to attack the United States infrastructure—its energy, commerce, government communications and operations, emergency preparedness, and business functions. Strategic information warfare is a very grave problem. Attackers don’t have to necessarily destroy these systems just disrupt them. They don’t have to physically enter the U.S., they merely have to access the systems. They don’t have to have large military force strike units (10-35 highly trained computer technicians can do the job). We may never even know who the attackers were-disinformation flow is very easy. With the advanced state of digital imaging, misinformation campaigns in enemy countries can take on a much more convincing role. All it takes is for one country to have a few skilled hackers, and suddenly the number of troops, the hardware, and the nuclear devices don't matter. Could there be an "electronic Pearl Harbor?"

Books on Cyber Warfare:

Information Warfare: How to Survive Cyber Attacks

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0072132604/reader/9/ref=lib_rd_TC01/102-7506524-4758516#reader-link

In Athena’s Camp: Preparing for Conflict in the Information Age

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0833025147/reader/2/ref=lib_rd_TC01/102-7506524-4758516#reader-link

Strategic Information Warfare: A New Face of War

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0833023527/reader/2/ref=lib_rd_TC01/102-7506524-4758516#reader-link

U.S. Government Response

The United States government in response to call to protect the information structures of the U.S. has created the Presidential Decision Directive 63 under President Bill Clinton to

take all necessary measures to swiftly eliminate any significant vulnerability to both physical and cyber attacks on our critical infrastructures, including especially our cyber systems.

The national goal is that by no later than the year 2000, the United States shall have achieved an initial operating capability and no later than five years from today the United States shall have achieved and shall maintain the ability to protect our nation's critical infrastructures from intentional acts that would significantly diminish the abilities of:

The federal government to perform essential national security missions and to ensure the general public health and safety;

State and local governments to maintain order and to deliver minimum essential public services;

The private sector to ensure the orderly functioning of the economy and the delivery of essential telecommunications, energy, financial, and transportation services."

Achieving this sweeping goal will be a considerable undertaking, requiring a cooperative effort between the government and the private sector elements that operate the critical infrastructures.

The PDD directs the federal government to lead by example in assuring the robustness of federal systems, but also makes it clear that the public sector cannot solve the problem unilaterally. Every federal department and agency is highly dependent on the services provided by the private sector -- power, telecommunications, transportation, etc. Thus, the PDD envisions a Public-Private Partnership to develop and implement a comprehensive National Infrastructure Assurance Plan, to deal with the threat of electronic terrorism. The significant challenge is how to get the private sector to engage infrastructure assurance from a national perspective. In today's highly competitive environment, the private sector is typically driven to achieve market advantage -- including driving down operating costs -- to increase profits. Enhanced cyber-protection measures will require both expanded investment and collaboration with competitors.

Most of the work in this area, and most discussions in this area are based on this directive.

Response to Presidential Directive

The response to this directive is largely based on the results of a white paper outlining the path the initiative should take developed by the Rand Corp.

Strategic Information Warfare Rising

www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR964

This white paper discusses the scope of the problem and the manner in which this problem should be addressed for optimum results. It also emphasized the cooperation necessary with the private sector to anticipate attacks and implement proactive measures.

To that end a number of Senate Hearings have been held and government officials are responded in articles on this matter.

“Defending the Nation against Cyber attack. Information Assurance in the Global Environment”

http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/1198/ijpe/pj48min.htm

“Information Warfare: Challenge and Opportunity”

http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/1198/ijpe/pj48adam.htm

“Virtual Defense”

www.foreignaffairs.org/search/document.asp?i=20010501faessay4771.XML

Oversight Hearing on the “I love you” computer virus and its Impact on the U. S. Financial Services Industry-Testimony of James Adams

www.senate.gov/~banking/00_05hrg/051800/adams.htm

“Afraid of Cyber Attack? An Expert Offers a Protection Plan

www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/977351

Great Websites for Individual Study (Sites have good links to other areas:

Critical Information Assurance Office (Government Site for Department Created by Presidential Decision Directive 63)

http://www.ciao.gov/

Institute for the Advanced Study of Information Warfare

http://www.psycom.net/iwar.1.html

Federation of American Scientists- Intelligence Resource Program

http://www.fas.org/irp/wwwinfo.html

MS. Guidance: Cyberwar. Information Warfare and Psychological Operations (A website for posting on MSN.com) This site has great articles on the psychological effects of strategic information warfare

http://www.t0.or.at/msguide/cyberwa1.htm#cyberwar

An interesting little article:

“Cyberwar is Coming!”-- No technology but an interesting discussion how military organizational structure should react to netwar and cyberwar

http://gopher.well.sf.ca.us:70/0/Military/cyberwar