Cyber Warfare/Cyber Terrorism

Abstract

Section 1 of this paper provides an overview of cyber warfare as an element of information warfare, starting with the general background of the current strategic environment the United States is operating in. This section also examines why information warfare has become such an attractive alternative form of conflict, reviews the traditional principles of warfare and why they may or may not apply to cyber warfare, and proposes new principles of warfare that may be needed to conduct cyber warfare. Section 1 concludes with a review of offensive and defensive cyber warfare concepts. Section 2 presents a general overview of cyber terrorism, including definitions of cyber terrorism and cyber terrorism support. This section examines three possible levels of cyber terrorist attack and concludes with an analysis of the factors that may or may not encourage terrorists to engage in cyber terrorist operations. The third and final section of the paper attempts to answer the following question: "Is cyber terrorism a legitimate threat?" This section examines factors that should be considered when evaluating cyber terrorism as a potential threat. (4 tables, 5 figures, 25 refs.)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 19, 2004
Accession Number
ADA424310

Entities

People

  • Timothy F. O'hara

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Cyber Defense Techniques
  • Cyber Warfare
  • Cyberattacks
  • Cyberspace
  • Cyberspace Operations
  • Cyberterrorism
  • Governments
  • Information Operations
  • Information Systems
  • Information Warfare
  • Intelligence Collection
  • Mass Production
  • Military Operations
  • Military Science
  • Terrorism
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Business Analytics
  • Cybersecurity.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.

Technology Areas

  • Cyber
  • Cyber - Legality in Cyberspace