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Definition: information warfare


(1) The distribution of a cultural, political or religious points of view aimed at discrediting and scandalizing opposing thought. See disinformation and social media.

(2) Also called "cyberterrorism" and "cyberwarfare," information warfare refers to cyberattacks that create havoc on a large scale. Some examples are disrupting the computers that manage stock exchanges, power grids, air traffic control, telecommunications and defense systems. Viruses, Trojans and denial-of-service attacks are part of the information warfare arsenal, and they get more sophisticated every year.

Before a Shooting War
Information warfare is increasingly considered as the first offensive before the start of a physical attack. The military in many countries have full-time cyberwarriors on the payroll, because the more successful a cyberattack on an early warning defense system is, the greater the success of the real attack. According to "Cyber War," North Korea may have as many as a thousand hackers stationed in China, working on knocking out systems in South Korea and other countries. See virus, Trojan, cyberattack, asymmetric warfare and denial-of-service attack.




The Primer
As the Internet was unfolding for commercial use in 1994, Schwartau's book foretold why the world was going to be bombarded with security issues. Unfortunately, most of his predictions have come true.