Information warfare and the information systems security professional

Abstract

The ‘Cold War’ has ended, but it has been replaced by new ‘wars’. These wars involve the use of technology as a tool to assist in conducting information warfare. It encompasses electronic warfare, techno-terrorist activities and even economic espionage. The term information warfare (IW) is being talked about as the 21st century method of waging war. The United States, among other countries, is in the process of developing ‘cyberspace weapons’. According to the June 22, 1995 issue of a United States magazine, Washington Technology, “. . . The cyberspace war plans dubbed information warfare by the Pentagon are intended to manipulate the flow of information to enemy leaders, weapons and citizens...“.