Volume 11, Issue 2

Volume 11, Issue 2 Editorial

Stylized Image of the Word Editorial

JULY 2012

In this 32nd issue of JIW, some of the papers have been expanded from the International Conference on Information Warfare 2012 whilst some of the others have their derivation from the ICT Uses in Warfare and The Safeguarding of Peace Workshop held in South Africa.

Mobile Devices and the Military: Useful Tool or Significant Threat?

ABSTRACT

Smart mobile devices are becoming more prevalent in the military, not only for personal use, but as a battlefield tool. This paper discusses the introduction of smart mobile phones into a military environment, and the possible benefits and risks thereof. The paper will also investigate what these devices mean for information warfare. Throughout the paper, specific examples will be provided of military application of mobile devices, and the threats they pose.

The Future of Command and Control: Determining Force Readiness at the Push of a Button

ABSTRACT

Currently, force readiness within the military is not measureable, but is estimated based on manual reporting and subjective human perceptions. Due to the potential level of miscalculation, commanding officers often need to make decisions on the fly, with no clear methodology in determining the correct level of force readiness. This paper illustrates how a common data model can contribute to the automation of force readiness determination. This is enabled by Information Communication Technology automation within the command and control domain. The proposed Information Communication Technology utilisation will provide the foundation for future command and control systems based on automated formulas and algorithms, to remove subjectivity and the potential for human error from determining the force readiness of the military.

Analyzing Russian Propaganda: Application of Siegfried Kracauer’s Qualitative Content Analysis Method

ABSTRACT

Social scientists and political commentators have been occupied with propaganda analysis and definitions since the beginning of the 20th Century. However, quantitative content analysis, which was adopted to forecast the enemy’s strategic decisions, brought with it a tendency to look at the messages as a code that had to be translated to reveal its real meaning and the hidden intentions of its composers. The adequacy of its employment for the purposes of propaganda research was questioned already in 1940s; hence, alternative methodologies had to be proposed. The sociologist, Siegfried Kracauer, was the one to describe the method, that nevertheless being close to quantitative content analysis, successfully overcame its weaknesses. Although Kracauer himself admitted the imperfection of the suggested methodology, which he called qualitative content analysis, it was found to be most appropriate for the purposes of propaganda research and was successfully applied for the study of propaganda technique use during the two Russia-Chechnya conflicts.

Global and National Take on State Information Warfare

ABSTRACT

Information power has a crucial effect on success and because today information is mostly stored in digital form, attempts to establish information supremacy have logically migrated into cyberspace. Information warfare, which first developed in the military and political sphere, has become, due to recent technological developments, extremely aggressive and widespread, and is now used as a tool to achieve goals in all societal spheres. Leading countries even integrate this technique into their national policies and strategies for achieving their political goals. Transference of information warfare into cyberspace has led to the combining of two of the most dangerous and least investigated forms of criminality – cybercrime and organized crime – so the dilemma how to protect ourselves from them is now even greater. The international community has been avoiding this issue and information warfare is totally neglected. The absence of legislation and the will to bring order to this area has created a situation in which anyone can use cybercrime techniques to gain information power. This paper presents the authors’ opinion on the nature of information warfare, its steady migration into cyberspace and its exponential growth. The analysis of the current normative acts at national and international levels and our overview of the developments in leading countries illuminate the present state of affairs in this field.

Journal of Information Warfare

The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.

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Keywords

A

AI
APT

C

C2
C2S
CDX
CIA
CIP
CPS

D

DNS
DoD
DoS

I

IA
ICS

M

S

SOA

X

XRY

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The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.

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