Info War

The last phase of civilization Info war(sometimes called “low technology”), with a high degree of industrialization.

In which natural resources were producing and distributed. The Info war gives way to a new era (called “high technology”), in that infuriating is created and disseminated.

In an increasingly global world, large information networks, most of them based on computers, accumulate. Process and distribute information, which affects all people and all levels of society.

INTRODUCTION

  1. The Armed Forces and especially the Air Force, is immersed in this “information revolution”.
  2. Networks and powerful computers are an effective means to accelerate our decision-making cycle
  3. (Perceive, Process, Compare, Decide and Act), and keep us on the enemy’s decision cycle.
  4. Still, these same networks can become against us and explode on us and around us, in some cases, in an uncontrolled way.
  5. Ironically, this new flank of vulnerability is a by-product of the success achieving in military technology. Which was the first to express interest in the developmenting of networks.

THE DEFINITION

This new phenomenon is called “Info War”, and the United States Air Forces have defined it as: “Any action to deny, exploit, corrupt or destroy:

  • The enemy’s information and its functions, protecting ours against their efforts. , and exploiting our information operations: “.
  • The definition itself gives us two aspects in this new type of “war” that we will talk about later, the offensive and the defensive.
  • Certain aspects of IW (Info War) are as old as histories, such as attacking the enemy’s head, disappointment in the full scope of the word, and psychological operations.
  • However, others apply parallel concepts to Electronic Warfare that reached a significant development during World War II. The recent automation of Command and Control Centers has created targets more vulnerable to logic bombs and computer viruses than to traditional bombs.
  • In societies that are immersing in the development of this virtual dimension, the importance and frequency of this type of war, both against civilian and military systems.
  • Will increase enormously. Of course, psychological and deception operations will also be transforming to limits unsuspected a few years ago.

SOME CASES

  1. The continuous assaults, with more or less innocent intentions, that are publishing in the media are known to all.
  2. Among them we can highlight that of a 22-year-old Argentine boy, who approximately four years ago managed to enter the Internet through the Internet.
  3. Harvard University computers and through them on the computers of the US Department of Defense, Department of Energy and NASA. Accessing information related to satellites, aircraft design and radar technology.
  4. The Roma Laboratory (New York), the USAF’s central Commanding and Control developming facility, was attacked. More than 150 times between March and April 1994 by two “hackers”.
  5. (In their version of a person skilled with computers that perform unauthorized access to computers) unidentified.

THE EASE OF GETTING TOOLS

A CD-ROM titled “The Hacker Chronicles, Vol II” and available for about $ 50 contains hundreds of megabytes of information for “hackers”, including automatic tools to break into protected computers:

  • Its cover includes this notice the information contained is legal, but its use may be illegal. The content is for informational and educational purposes only.
  • All information contained in this compilation was legally available to the public before this publication.”
  • On the Internet, by subscribing to mailing lists, reading newsgroups or accessing hypertext pages, hundreds of articles and references can be creating on the most diverse methods of assault.
  • All this information is freely accessible to anyone who has, anywhere in the world, Internet access.
  • Translating this problem into figures, we can say that during the past year, the DISA Agency (Defense Information Systems Agency), using “hacker” type tools, attacked 26,170 DoD (Department of Defense) computers without classified information.
  • 3.6% of them were quickly attacking through the “front door because the most basic security measuring had not been taken. 86% could be penetrating by exploiting the relationship between computers in networks.
  • Administrators or computer users detected 98% of the “NO” raids; in 2% of the cases detected, only 5% were reporting.
  • This statistical study showed that during 1995 approximately 200,000 raisings were making on the unclassified computers of the US DoD.

THE GULF WAR

  1. The Gulf War brought the use of information deception and IW to its zenith. The amount of information did not give rest to the members of the Coalition: 700,000 telephone calls, 150,000 daily messages.
  2. Management of 350,000 frequencies and control of the AWACS of 2,240 daily aircraft departures.
  3. Operation “Desert Storm” gave the Pentagon the first idea of what war would look like in the future. By combining techniques of electronic warfare, command and control action.
  4. And also, psychological operations, the coalition launched an attack on the Iraqi information system that hastened the end of the war.
  5. Officers in charge of planning military operations identified 78 nodes of the Iraqi Command and Control System that once eliminated would paralyze Iraq.

THE OFFENSIVE IW

  • This part of the IW, commonly called IW-O, includes acts such as theft or corruption of data. Distribution of erroneous or false information. Denial of access to data, and the physical destruction of disks, platforms or buildings. That are part of the data storage and distribution system
  • The offensive part of the IW is beautiful to many because it is very cheap comparing to the costs of developing, maintaining and using sophisticated weapon systems.
  • Through bribery, blackmail or infiltration, the collaboration of an authorized. User of the system can be obtaining who generating false information. Manipulates existing information or introduces “logic bombs” in the information systems connected to the global communications infrastructure.

THE DEFENSIVE IW

  • The IW-D uses means such as virus detectors and eliminators, encryption and authentication protocols and information certification to prevent IW-O.
  • As well as access controls (from the simple password barrier to complex computers specialized in the access filtering. Called ‘firewalls’ or sophisticated communication protocol analysis programs).
  • IW-D also includes the planning and execution of the necessary activities aimed at mitigating the effects of an IW attack.
  • It is important to note that investments in this facet of the IW are not in correlation. With those that must be made in the offensive part to achieve the same degree of capacity.

THE CONCLUSION

  • The content of this article aims to publicize a new field of action that is opening up before us. And also, that will undoubtedly give a lot to talk about in the not too distant future.
  • EA cannot remain oblivious to the new threat and this new type of war. Which is already considering, by some experts. As the war of the 21st century.
  • The first need of the EA is to establish a “focal point”. For the coordination of all aspects related to IW, subsequently.
  • As a result of in-depth studies, measures such as the formation of organizing. And a centre for IW-D could be adopted. Which must carry out planning and coordination.
  • As well as the creation of a control body for systems. Networks and infrastructure design and finally the establishment of a crisis response team.
  • The road ahead is long and the intermediate steps many. But the EA has the means and the personnel with the capacity and qualifications to take the first step.

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