Volume 2, Issue 2 Editorial
FEBRUARY 2003
In many modern business environments, even the short-term, temporary interruption of Internet / e-mail connectivity can have a significantly disruptive effect, forcing people to revert to other forms of communication that are now viewed as less convenient. Imagine, then, the effect if the denial of service was over the longer term and also affected the IT infrastructure in general.
Many governments are now coming to this realization. Since the end of the Cold War and the increased development of global networks new threats and vulnerabilities have developed. Many governments are concerned about the fact that their national information infrastructure (NII) is completely dependent upon computerized networks, whether military or commercial. This means that an enemy, many thousands of miles away, can remotely attack and damage a country’s NII via Information Warfare. Who will carry out these attacks?
The development by nations such as the US and China of teams of information warfare experts has highlighted that cyber-warriors have become mainstream. Attacks from organized criminals, political agitators, and cyber terrorists have increased in number and the trend shows no sign of slowing. The setting up of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) illustrates how serious many nations think the problem is.
This edition has a number of papers that focus upon a particular group of individuals called cyber terrorists who have the ability to attack countries’ NIIs. In addition to this special section, other high quality papers have been included to expand the brief of this edition. Another new feature is that of the ‘Opinion Paper’. Each issue we hope to include an article expressing an opinion on some issue of interest. It is hoped that these will stimulate some debate. Please write to us with your opinions. If you feel like contributing an opinion paper, I encourage you to do so. We also encourage letters of interest to the readership. These will be published if they are of sufficient merit.
Matthew Warren
William Hutchinson
AUTHORS
RMIT University
Melbourne, Australia
Univeristy of Johannesburg,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Matt Warren is the Director of the RMIT Centre of Cyber Security Research and Innovation and a Professor of Cyber Security at RMIT University, Australia. Professor Warren is a researcher in the areas of cyber security and computer ethics. He has authored and co-authored over 300 books, book chapters, journal papers, and conference papers. He has received numerous grants and awards from national and international funding bodies, such as AustCyber, Australian Research Council (ARC), CyberCRC, Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in the UK, National Research Foundation in South Africa and the European Union. Professor Warren earned his Ph.D. in Information Security Risk Analysis from the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom and he has taught in Australia, Finland, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom. Professor Warren is a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society.
Security Research Institute Edith Cowan University
Perth, Australia.
Professor Bill Hutchinson was Foundation IBM Chair in Information Security at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. He was Director of SECAU (Security Research Centre) and was coordinator of the Information Operations and Security programmes. From 2000 to 2010, he was the Chief Editor and founder of the Journal of Information Warfare.
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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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