Cyberwar and Information Warfare

Cyberwar and Information Warfare

by Daniel Ventre
Released August 2011
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781848213043

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Integrating empirical, conceptual, and theoretical approaches, this book presents the thinking of researchers and experts in the fields of cybersecurity, cyberdefense, and information warfare.

The aim of this book is to analyze the processes of information warfare and cyberwarfare through the historical, operational and strategic perspectives of cyberattacks.

Cyberwar and Information Warfare is of extreme use to experts in security studies and intelligence studies, defense universities, ministries of defense and security, and anyone studying political sciences, international relations, geopolitics, information technologies, etc.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Introduction
  5. List of Acronyms
  6. Chapter 1. Cyberwar and its Borders
    1. 1.1. The seduction of cyberwar
    2. 1.2. Desirable, vulnerable and frightening information
    3. 1.3. Conflict and its dimensions
    4. 1.4. The Helm and space
    5. 1.5. Between knowledge and violence
    6. 1.6. Space, distance and paths
    7. 1.7. The permanency of war
    8. 1.8. No war without borders
    9. 1.9. The enemy and the sovereign
    10. 1.10. Strengths and weaknesses
    11. 1.11. Bibliography
  7. Chapter 2. War of Meaning, Cyberwar and Democracies
    1. 2.1. Introduction
    2. 2.2. Informational environment, a new operating space for strategy
      1. 2.2.1. War and information: stakes for the West
        1. 2.2.1.1. Information society and 21st Century conflicts
        2. 2.2.1.2. Informational environment and cyberspace
        3. 2.2.1.3. Emergence of non-state controlled actors
        4. 2.2.1.4. The West perceived negatively by the non-western wor
        5. 2.2.1.5. A thought to be renewed on the concept of subversion
        6. 2.2.1.6. The debate on the use of force
        7. 2.2.1.7. The rejection of death in the West
        8. 2.2.1.8. Soldier-citizen and individual freedom of expression
      2. 2.2.2. Strategy in the information environment
        1. 2.2.2.1. The global nature of the State’s strategy in resolving crises
        2. 2.2.2.2. Comprehensive approach and military strategy
        3. 2.2.2.3. About the influence strategy of Western democracies
        4. 2.2.2.4. The return to ideologies
        5. 2.2.2.5. War of meaning and strategic communication
        6. 2.2.2.6. NATO and strategic communication(s) in Afghanistan
      3. 2.2.3. Winning the battle of legitimacies
        1. 2.2.3.1. Creating legitimacy out of a military intervention
        2. 2.2.3.2. The asymmetry of ethics
        3. 2.2.3.3. Why fight?
        4. 2.2.3.4. Necessary domestic adherence
        5. 2.2.3.5. Sensitizing domestic public opinion
        6. 2.2.3.6. What is propaganda today?
        7. 2.2.3.7. The Internet: new battlefield for propaganda
        8. 2.2.3.8. Communication or propaganda
    3. 2.3. Influence strategy: defeating and limiting armed force physical involvement
      1. 2.3.1. Describing the aggressor
        1. 2.3.1.1. What is an enemy?
        2. 2.3.1.2. Redefining the enemy
        3. 2.3.1.3. Understanding the adversary and its human environment
      2. 2.3.2. Armed forces and the information environment
        1. 2.3.2.1. New wars
        2. 2.3.2.2. Understanding to influence and act
        3. 2.3.2.3. Information operations
        4. 2.3.2.4. From command and control warfare to the battle of perception
      3. 2.3.3. The need for moral force
        1. 2.3.3.1. Political action and armed forces
        2. 2.3.3.2. Defining the counter-cause
        3. 2.3.3.3. Image-emotion control, condition of the partial success of communication
        4. 2.3.3.4. Vital protection of information in conflicts
        5. 2.3.3.5. Preventative strategy and counter-influence actions
    4. 2.4. Conclusion
    5. 2.5. Bibliography
  8. Chapter 3. Intelligence, the First Defense? Information Warfare and Strategic Surprise
    1. 3.1. Information warfare, information and war
    2. 3.2. Intelligence and strategic surprise
      1. 3.2.1. Strategic surprise
      2. 3.2.2. Perception of surprise
      3. 3.2.3. Perception of the possibility of surprise
    3. 3.3. Strategic surprise and information warfare
    4. 3.4. Concluding remarks: surprise in strategic studies
    5. 3.5. Bibliography
  9. Chapter 4. Cyberconflict: Stakes of Power
    1. 4.1. Stakes of power
      1. 4.1.1. Power relations
        1. 4.1.1.1. Cyberattack
        2. 4.1.1.2. Cyberdefense
        3. 4.1.1.3. Cyberwar
        4. 4.1.1.4. Confrontations in the information dimension (CID)
      2. 4.1.2. Expression of sovereignty
      3. 4.1.3. Cyberpower
      4. 4.1.4. Measuring and locating power
        1. 4.1.4.1. Cyberspace, place of conflict
        2. 4.1.4.2. Measurement criteri
        3. 4.1.4.3. The concept of vital space
        4. 4.1.4.4. The gravity model
        5. 4.1.4.5. The Second World
        6. 4.1.4.6. Speed as a determiner of power
      5. 4.1.5. Limits of exercising power
      6. 4.1.6. The Monroe doctrine
      7. 4.1.7. Globalization
      8. 4.1.8. Shock theories
      9. 4.1.9. Naval and maritime power strategy
      10. 4.1.10. Air/space and cybernetic power: analogies
      11. 4.1.11. Cyberconflict/cyber weapons, chemical/biological weapons: comparisons
      12. 4.1.12. Cyberconflict/cyber weapons, Cold War, nuclear weapons: comparisons
      13. 4.1.13. Cyberconflict and new wars
        1. 4.1.13.1. Is cyberwar actually war?
        2. 4.1.13.2. Cyberwar, new war?
        3. 4.1.13.3. Wars and technologies
        4. 4.1.13.4. Hybrid wars
    2. 4.2. The Stuxnet affair
    3. 4.3. Bibliography
  10. Chapter 5. Operational Aspects of a Cyberattack: Intelligence, Planning and Conduct
    1. 5.1. Introduction
    2. 5.2. Towards a broader concept of cyberwar
      1. 5.2.1. War and cyberwar: common ground
      2. 5.2.2. New orders in cyberwar
        1. 5.2.2.1. Obliterating space
        2. 5.2.2.2. Obliterating time
        3. 5.2.2.3. Obliterating proof
      3. 5.2.3. Who are cyberwarriors?
      4. 5.2.4. Is formalization possible?
    3. 5.3. Concept of critical infrastructure
      1. 5.3.1. Generalized definition of the notion of critical infrastructure
        1. 5.3.1.1. The human element
        2. 5.3.1.2. External elements
      2. 5.3.2. System interdependence
    4. 5.4. Different phases of a cyberattack
      1. 5.4.1. Intelligence phase
        1. 5.4.1.1. Technical intelligence
        2. 5.4.1.2. Human intelligence
      2. 5.4.2. Planning phase
      3. 5.4.3. Conduct phase
    5. 5.5. A few “elementary building blocks”
      1. 5.5.1. General tactical framework
      2. 5.5.2. Attacks on people
      3. 5.5.3. Opinion manipulation and area control
      4. 5.5.4. Military computer attack in a conventional operation
    6. 5.6. Example scenario
      1. 5.6.1. Tactical scenario
        1. 5.6.1.1. General situation
        2. 5.6.1.2. Environment and INT situation24
        3. 5.6.1.3. Geographical situation
      2. 5.6.2. The order of events
        1. 5.6.2.1. Phase 1: before September 22nd
        2. 5.6.2.2. Phase 2: from September 22nd to the 24th
        3. 5.6.2.3. Phase 3: from September 24th to the 28th
      3. 5.6.3. Analysis
    7. 5.7. Conclusion
    8. 5.8. Bibliography
  11. Chapter 6. Riots in Xinjiang and Chinese Information Warfare? 285
    1. 6.1. Xinjiang region: an explosive context
      1. 6.1.1. Ethnic tensions, extremism, separatism, terrorism and violence in Xinjiang
      2. 6.1.2. Xinjiang: a strategic region
    2. 6.2. Riots, July 2009
      1. 6.2.1. Chronology of facts
      2. 6.2.2. Reasons for the riots
      3. 6.2.3. The riots faced with international public opinion
    3. 6.3. Impacts on Chinese cyberspace: hacktivism and site defacing
      1. 6.3.1. The Internet in Xinjiang: a region dependent on information systems?
      2. 6.3.2. Website defacement in a crisis context
      3. 6.3.3. Defining the dynamics of the relationship between “political events” and “site defacement”
        1. 6.3.3.1. Defacements on the .cn domain
        2. 6.3.3.2. Defacements on .hk domains
        3. 6.3.3.3. Defacements on the .tw domain
        4. 6.3.3.4. Defacements on the .mo domain
        5. 6.3.3.5. Defacements on the .tr domain
        6. 6.3.3.6. Defacements on the .jp domain
        7. 6.3.3.7. Defacements on the .au domain
        8. 6.3.3.8. Involved hacktivists
        9. 6.3.3.9. Content of the claims
    4. 6.4. Managing the “cyberspace” risk by the Chinese authorities
      1. 6.4.1. Inaccessible sites
      2. 6.4.2. Cutting off telephone communications
      3. 6.4.3. The risks of cyberspace
      4. 6.4.4. Dealing with the media and information content
      5. 6.4.5. After the incidents: communication, reaction, control, legislation
    5. 6.5. Chinese information warfare through the Xinjiang crisis
      1. 6.5.1. Xinjiang, land of information warfare
      2. 6.5.2. Chinese information warfare in the prism of Xinjiang management crisis approaches
        1. 6.5.2.1. Speed and reactivity
        2. 6.5.2.2. The public national opinion as a sensitive system
        3. 6.5.2.3. Cyberspace permeability: ultimate control impossible?
    6. 6.6. Conclusion
    7. 6.7. Bibliography
  12. Chapter 7. Special Territories
    1. 7.1. Hong Kong: intermediate zone
      1. 7.1.1. Strategic and political situation in Hong Kong
      2. 7.1.2. Hong Kong’s cyberspace
      3. 7.1.3. A framework suited to crises
      4. 7.1.4. Hong Kong’s vulnerable cyberspace
      5. 7.1.5. The Google affair
    2. 7.2. North Korea: unknown figure of asymmetrical threat
      1. 7.2.1. Cyberattacks blamed on North Korea
      2. 7.2.2. North Korea’s capability in cyberwar
      3. 7.2.3. The Cheonan affair
        1. 7.2.3.1. The cybernetic dimension of the Cheonan affair
      4. 7.2.4. In the face of North Korea: the capabilities of South Korea
    3. 7.3. Bibliography
  13. Conclusion
  14. List of Authors
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Cyberwar and Information Warfare
  • Author(s): Daniel Ventre
  • Release date: August 2011
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781848213043