- "Information warfare (IW) (different from cyberwarfare that attacks computers, software, and command control systems) is a concept involving the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent."
This subfield involves the development and deployment of systems and strategies to protect military and national security information from cyber-attacks.
Cybersecurity Fundamentals: This topic covers the basic principles, concepts, and practices that are necessary to secure computer systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, attacks, and breaches.
Risk Management: This topic deals with the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating cybersecurity risks that could affect the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of sensitive and mission-critical information and systems.
Threat Intelligence: This topic focuses on gathering, analyzing, and sharing information about cyber threats, adversaries, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that could pose a risk to military and defense operations.
Incident Response: This topic covers the processes, procedures, and techniques used to detect, investigate, contain, and recover from cybersecurity incidents such as data breaches, malware infections, and network intrusions.
Network Security: This topic deals with the design, deployment, and management of secure computer networks and systems that support military and defense operations.
Cryptography: This topic covers the use of mathematical algorithms and protocols for securing sensitive information by encoding it in a way that only authorized parties can access it.
Access Control: This topic deals with the policies, procedures, and technologies used to limit access to sensitive information and systems to only authorized users.
Security Governance: This topic covers the processes, policies, and procedures used to manage and oversee cybersecurity programs, compliance, and risk management within military and defense organizations.
Social Engineering: This topic focuses on the use of psychological techniques and deception to trick individuals into divulging sensitive information or performing actions that could compromise security.
Cyber Espionage: This topic covers the use of cyber techniques to gather intelligence from military and defense organizations and other nations.
Cyber Warfare: This topic deals with the use of cyber techniques to launch attacks on military and defense targets with the aim of disrupting or destroying operations and capabilities.
Cyber Defense: This topic covers the tools, tactics, and strategies used to defend against cyber attacks, including threat detection and prevention, vulnerability scanning, and incident response.
Cyber Hygiene: This topic covers the best practices for maintaining secure computer systems, networks, and data, including regular updates, patches, backups, and training for employees.
Insider Threats: This topic focuses on the risks posed by employees, contractors, and other insiders who have access to sensitive information and systems but may be motivated by financial gain, ideology, or mental instability to commit insider attacks.
Supply Chain Security: This topic covers the risks posed by third-party vendors, suppliers, and contractors who provide hardware, software, and services to military and defense organizations, and how to mitigate these risks through procurement policies and practices.
Cyberwarfare: It refers to the use of the internet to conduct warfare, such as hacking, unauthorized access, or damaging the enemy's infrastructure.
Cyber Espionage: It refers to using the internet to spy on the enemy, usually by stealing sensitive information like weapons systems plans or national security secrets.
Cyber Terrorism: It is the use of the internet to sow terror among the people by targeting critical infrastructure, financial systems or other sensitive targets.
Network and Infrastructure Defense: It refers to the activities undertaken to safeguard the nation's networks and infrastructure from cyber-attacks.
Information Assurance: It focuses on ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information by implementing security policies and procedures, incident response plans and physical security measures.
Computer Network Defense: It includes activities like monitoring networks, setting up firewalls, and network security protocols to prevent cyber-attacks.
Social Engineering: It is the practice of exploiting social vulnerabilities to access sensitive information. These are often associated with phishing attacks or spear-phishing, in which an attacker sends an email or message that appears to come from a trusted source to obtain sensitive information or provoke behavior that can lead to a cyber-attack.
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks: It is the type of cyber-attack that aims to overwhelm a system or network with traffic, making it unavailable to users.
Advanced Persistent Threats: It is a type of cyber-attack in which an intruder uses sophisticated techniques to gain access and remain undetected in a system for an extended period, with the aim to extract sensitive information or disrupt operations gradually.
Cyber Crime: It refers to the illegal activities carried out using a computer or the internet, such as online fraud, identity theft or piracy.
Information Management: It is the process that deals with the collection, storage, processing, and dissemination of information to ensure that it is appropriate, accurate, and timely.
Operational Security: It is the process of identifying and safeguarding sensitive or critical information from disclosure, acquisition, or exploitation by foreign intelligence services, terrorist organizations, or other persons that could harm national security.
Incident Response and Recovery: It is the process of responding to and recovering from cyber-attacks to minimize damage and restore service as quickly as possible.
Insider Threat: It refers to the threat posed by individuals within an organization who misuse their access to sensitive information or systems for personal gain or to cause harm.
Supply Chain Security: It is the process of ensuring that the products and services used by an organization are not vulnerable to cyber-attacks or other types of malicious activities.
- "Information warfare is the manipulation of information trusted by a target without the target's awareness so that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting information warfare."
- "As a result, it is not clear when information warfare begins, ends, and how strong or destructive it is."
- "Information warfare may involve the collection of tactical information, assurance(s) that one's information is valid, spreading of propaganda or disinformation to demoralize or manipulate the enemy and the public, undermining the quality of the opposing force's information, and denial of information-collection opportunities to opposing forces."
- "Information warfare is closely linked to psychological warfare."
- "The United States Armed Forces' use of the term favors technology and hence tends to extend into the realms of electronic warfare, cyberwarfare, information assurance and computer network operations, attack, and defense."
- "Other militaries use the much broader term Information Operations (IO) which, although making use of technology, focuses on the more human-related aspects of information use."
- "Including (amongst many others) social network analysis, decision analysis, and the human aspects of command and control."
- "...manipulation of information trusted by a target without the target's awareness so that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting information warfare."
- "Spreading of propaganda or disinformation to demoralize or manipulate the enemy and the public."
- "Undermining the quality of the opposing force's information."
- "In pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent."
- "The United States Armed Forces' use of the term favors technology and hence tends to extend into the realms of electronic warfare, cyberwarfare, information assurance and computer network operations, attack, and defense."
- "Assurance(s) that one's information is valid."
- "Denial of information-collection opportunities to opposing forces."
- "Information warfare (IW) (different from cyberwarfare that attacks computers, software, and command control systems)."
- "As a result, it is not clear when information warfare begins, ends, and how strong or destructive it is."
- "More human-related aspects of information use."
- "So that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting information warfare."
- "To demoralize or manipulate the enemy and the public."