Conquest in Cyberspace: National Security and Information Warfare

by Martin C. Libicki

• ISBN13: 9780521692144
• ISBN10: 0521692148
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780511282959
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

With billions of computers in existence, cyberspace, 'the virtual world created when they are connected,' is said to be the new medium of power. Computer hackers operating from anywhere can enter cyberspace and take control of other people's computers, stealing their information, corrupting their workings, and shutting them down. Modern societies and militaries, both pervaded by computers, are supposedly at risk. As Conquest in Cyberspace explains, however, information systems and information itself are too easily conflated, and persistent mastery over the former is difficult to achieve. The author also investigates how far 'friendly conquest' in cyberspace extends, such as the power to persuade users to adopt new points of view. He discusses the role of public policy in managing cyberspace conquests and shows how the Internet is becoming more ubiquitous and complex, such as in the use of artificial intelligence.

Author Biography

Martin C. Libicki, a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation since 1998

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. x
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
What Does Conquest Mean in Cyberspace?	p. 4
Precis	p. 10
Hostile Conquest as Information Warfare	p. 15
An Ideal-Type Definition of Information Warfare	p. 16
Control at One Layer Is Not Control at Another	p. 24
Applying the Ideal-Type Definition	p. 27
There Is No Forced Entry in Cyberspace	p. 31
Information Warfare Only Looks Strategic	p. 37
IW Strategy and Terrorism	p. 43
Conclusions	p. 49
Information Warfare as Noise	p. 50
Disinformation and Misinformation	p. 51
Defenses against Noise	p. 55
Redundancy	p. 55
Filtration	p. 57
What Tolerance for Noise?	p. 59
Tolerance in Real Environments	p. 60
Castles and Agoras	p. 62
Hopping from Agoras to Castles?	p. 64
Castling Foes	p. 66
Concluding Observations	p. 71
Can Information Warfare Be Strategic?	p. 73
Getting In	p. 75
Mucking Around	p. 79
Spying	p. 79
Denial of Service	p. 80
Corruption	p. 81
Distraction	p. 83
Countermeasures	p. 84
Redundancy	p. 84
Learning	p. 85
Damage Assessment	p. 87
Prediction	p. 90
Intelligence Is Necessary	p. 90
Intelligence Alone Is Hardly Sufficient	p. 93
Is Information Warfare Ready for War?	p. 95
The Paradox of Control	p. 96
Other Weaponization Criteria	p. 97
Conclusions	p. 100
Information Warfare against Command and Control	p. 102
The Sources of Information Overload	p. 103
Its Effect on Conventional Information Warfare Techniques	p. 105
Coping Strategies	p. 107
Who Makes Decisions in a Hierarchy?	p. 107
Responses to Information Overload	p. 111
Know the Enemy's Information Architecture	p. 116
Elements of Information Culture	p. 117
Elements of Nodal Architecture	p. 118
Injecting Information into Adversary Decision Making	p. 118
Ping, Echo, Flood, and Sag	p. 121
Ping and Echo	p. 121
Flood and Sag	p. 122
Conclusions	p. 124
Friendly Conquest in Cyberspace	p. 125
A Redefinition of Conquest	p. 126
The Mechanisms of Coalitions	p. 128
The Particular Benefits of Coalitions	p. 130
Information and Coalitions	p. 131
The Cost of Coalitions in Cyberspace	p. 136
Enterprise Architectures and Influence	p. 142
Alliances with Individuals	p. 148
The Special Case of Cell Phones	p. 151
Alliances of Organizations	p. 155
Ecologies of Technological Development	p. 155
DoD's Global Information Grid (GIG)	p. 159
Merging the Infrastructures of Allies	p. 164
Conclusions	p. 166
Friendly Conquest Using Global Systems	p. 169
Geospatial Data	p. 170
Coping with Commercial Satellites	p. 175
Manipulation through Cyberspace	p. 178
Getting Others to Play the Game	p. 180
Some Conclusions about Geospatial Services	p. 182
National Identity Systems	p. 182
Two Rationales for a National Identity System	p. 183
Potential Parameters for a Notional System	p. 184
Constraints from and Influences over Foreign Systems	p. 187
Compare, Contrast, and Conclude	p. 191
Retail Conquest in Cyberspace	p. 193
Information Trunks and Leaves	p. 194
Where Does Cheap Information Come From?	p. 195
Surveillance in Cyberspace	p. 198
Making Information Global	p. 203
Privacy	p. 204
Amalgamating Private Information	p. 206
Using the Information	p. 208
General Coercion	p. 208
Specific Coercion	p. 209
Persuasion	p. 211
Some Limits of Retail Warfare in Cyberspace	p. 214
Using Retail Channels to Measure Wholesale Campaigns	p. 215
Conclusions	p. 218
From Intimacy, Vulnerability	p. 220
Do the Walls Really Come Down?	p. 220
Intimacy as a Target	p. 222
The Fecklessness of Friends	p. 225
Betrayal	p. 228
Conclusions	p. 230
Talking Conquest in Cyberspace	p. 231
Four Layers of Communications	p. 232
Human Conversation in Layers	p. 232
Cyberspace in Layers	p. 236
Complexity Facilitates Conquest	p. 240
Complexity and Hostile Conquest	p. 241
Complexity and Friendly Conquest	p. 242
Semantics	p. 245
Pragmatics	p. 249
Lessons?	p. 255
Managing Conquest in Cyberspace	p. 256
Conducting Hostile Conquest in Cyberspace	p. 257
Warding Off Hostile Conquest in Cyberspace	p. 262
Byte Bullies	p. 262
Headless Horsemen	p. 265
Perfect Prevention	p. 268
Total Transparency	p. 270
Nasty Neighborhoods	p. 272
Exploiting Unwarranted Influence	p. 276
Against Unwarranted Influence	p. 281
In Microsoft's Shadow	p. 282
Microsoft and Computer Security	p. 285
Conclusions	p. 289
Why Cyberspace Is Likely to Gain Consequence	p. 291
More Powerful Hardware and Thus More Complex Software	p. 292
Cyberspace in More Places	p. 294
Fuzzier Borders between Systems	p. 297
Accepted Cryptography	p. 299
Privatized Trust	p. 301
The Possible Substitution of Artificial for Natural Intelligence	p. 303
Conclusions	p. 306
Index	p. 307
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