Cyberwar

From ArticleWorld

A Cyberwar is a way of defining warfare rooted in information technology. The concept of information warfare varies widely and terms such as cyber war and net war have many meanings and nuances. In simple terms a cyber war is used to describe the use of digital networks and communications to attack enemies. In an increasingly globalized and networked age, the ever expanding information revolution is altering the nature of conflict and is bringing new modes of warfare, terrorism, and crime to the fore, namely, Cyber war. The basic theme of a cyber war is that conflicts depend on, and revolve around, information and communications – the ‘cyber’ matters. These may be broadly defined to include technological, organizational, and modern structures of a society.

Why cyber wars?

Without a doubt the modus operandi in this information-age of conflict and crime is largely to do with using and manipulating knowledge – about who knows what, when, where, and why. It is also about how secure a state, its military, or other factors, which make up the society, feel about its knowledge of itself and its adversaries.

Enter cyber war – a comprehensive information-oriented approach to battle, which is to the information age what saturation bombing was to the industrial age. Information is a strategic asset worthy of conquest or destruction. This makes computers and other communication devices and information systems of the opponent, attractive first-strike targets.

Net wars

A Net war may be defined as information-related conflict on a grand scale between countries and states. It may also mean an attack on electronic records – personal or otherwise, business transactions or even records dealing with the security of a nation.