The Information Warriors
| Date | 01 March 1998 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025862 |
| Pages | 52-53 |
| Published date | 01 March 1998 |
| Author | Lorenzo Valeri |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal of Financial Crime — Vol. 6 No. 1 — Computer Crime
The Information Warriors
Lorenzo Valeri
Information Warfare (IW) has become today's
catchphrase among Western military and political
officials. It has emerged as a pressing concern
because of the reliance of today's society, military
and civil alike, on computers, civil communication
networks and databases. As stated by Robert T.
Marsh, Chairman of the US Commission on
Critical Infrastructure Protection, 'this reliance
exposes infrastructures in new ways, and creates
new vulnerabilities'. These vulnerabilities can be
exploited by a new type of warfighter — cyber-
warriors.
HACKERS
Hackers are the first level of cyber-warriors.
Although often portrayed as criminals or punks,
they are usually high school or university students
with a deep interest in computing and information
networks who, at the same time, have limited
social skills. Hackers tend to congregate in con-
ferences and to establish their own on-line
Bulletin Boards (BBS) and web-pages to exchange
ideas and technical information. Hackers' activities
are not usually motivated by criminality but more
by the personal satisfaction resulting from pene-
trating supposedly secure computer systems. There
are also 'political' hackers who hack to support
causes like the protection of animal rights or
national self-determination. Finally, some hackers
are motivated by the quest for total freedom of
information.
Hackers do not represent a real threat to
national security. Although they have means and
opportunities, and so may be a nuisance to system
administrators, their motives are often relatively
innocent. The same does not apply to cyber-mer-
cenaries.
CYBER-MERCENARIES
Information is today's main economic and military
asset and its control and/or acquisition are profit-
able activities for whoever is able to exploit com-
puter networks or databases. Cyber-mercenaries
are computer specialists who sell their knowledge
and training to whoever is willing to pay. Their
only motivation is money and they are always
trained in the latest state-of-the-art technology in
order to fulfil highly-paid assignments.
There are various kinds of cyber-mercenaries.
The end of the cold war had a profound effect on
the activities of many East European intelligence
services and scientific institutes. In particular,
many computer specialists from Russia, Bulgaria,
the former DDR and Poland lost their privileges
and were made redundant. Consequently, they are
more than willing to capitalise on their scientific
background without asking any questions regard-
ing their employers. Similarly, there are many
third world computer specialists, often trained in
American and Western European universities, who
have found themselves unsatisfied in their own
countries and, consequently, are prepared to do
anything to leave. Professional hacking gives them
the opportunity to change their lifestyles.
Another category of cyber-mercenaries consists
of Western specialists who suffered from the eco-
nomic and industrial recession and from massive
lay-offs. Although trained and qualified, many of
them have not been able to get new employment
and, consequently, have found extremely appealing
the idea of hacking or penetrating computer sys-
tems for money. A final category of cyber-merce-
naries is those hackers who have abandoned the
philosophical and ethical approach of non-destruc-
tive hacking and decided to become greedy.
Although many of them prefer to work exclu-
sively for themselves, the technical skills of cyber-
mercenaries are demanded by different kinds of
organisations. International criminal groups may
use them to control the flow of their money and
collect or distort information contained in govern-
ment and police databases. There are private intel-
ligence organisations whose services are contracted
by companies keen to acquire information about
competitors. Moreover, some companies may hire
cyber-mercenaries to embarrass their rivals by
causing financial losses and so damaging customer
confidence. This scenario applies, in particular, to
areas such as electronic banking which depend on
100 per cent customer confidence.
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