New Dimensions of Information Warfare [electronic resource] /

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Foreword -- Organization -- Book structure -- 1. Information Disorder -- The new social ecosystem -- Threat: disinformation campaign -- Attacks -- Vaccine hesitancy -- Immigration -- Climate change -- Public naivety -- Alleged political scandals -- Countermeasures -- Low-quality information -- Fake-news detection and removal -- Credibility -- Spreading truth -- Datasets -- Malicious actors -- Social bots -- Fake profiles -- Astroturf -- Spammers -- Sock puppets -- Political memes -- New directions -- Part -- Economy -- State-sponsored Cryptocurrency -- Threat: Collapse of the cryptocurrencies -- Attacks and countermeasures -- Hash Functions -- Open Issues -- Scenario 2: Trust in the Computational Power -- Threat: New Technologies -- Scenario 3: Infrastructure -- Attacks and Countermeasures -- Open Issues -- Towards a State-Sponsored Cryptocurrency -- Bitcoin Limitations -- Develop a State-Sponsored Cryptocurrency -- Scenario 1: Stock market forecasts -- Threat: Information-based manipulation -- A large attack surface -- Attacks and countermeasures -- Open issues and future directions -- Threat: Trade-based manipulation -- Attacks -- Countermeasures -- Open issues and future directions -- Threat: Algorithm-based manipulation -- Algorithms taking over -- Loose cannons on the automation deck -- Attacks -- Countermeasures -- Open issues and future directions -- Other countermeasures -- Threat: Technological bias, divide, and monopoly -- Attacks and countermeasures -- Open issues and future directions -- Scenario 3: Remote stock market -- Threat: Attacks against availability -- Attacks and countermeasures -- Threat: Work-from-home perils -- Attacks -- Countermeasures -- Open issues and future directions -- Scenario 4: Complex financial networks -- Threat: Systemic risk and cascading failures -- Measures of systemic risk -- Economics and finance approaches -- Network approaches -- Countermeasures -- Open issues and future directions. Part -- Infrastructure -- Critical Infrastructure -- Scenario: Cyber Warfare targeting Critical Infrastructures -- Threat: Malware -- Attacks and Countermeasures -- Open Issues and Future Directions -- Scenario: A new Cyber-Physical threat from the sky -- Threat: Drones -- Attacks and Countermeasures -- Open Issues and Future Directions -- Attacks and countermeasures -- Open issues and future directions -- Threat: outsourcing of security -- Attacks and countermeasures -- Trust in the cloud -- Security perimeter -- Confidentiality -- Integrity -- Availability -- Open issues and future directions -- Technical side.

This book revises the strategic objectives of Information Warfare, interpreting them according to the modern canons of information age, focusing on the fabric of society, the economy, and critical Infrastructures. The authors build plausible detailed real-world scenarios for each entity, showing the related possible threats from the Information Warfare point of view. In addition, the authors dive into the description of the still open problems, especially when it comes to critical infrastructures, and the countermeasures that can be implemented, possibly inspiring further research in the domain. This book intends to provide a conceptual framework and a methodological guide, enriched with vivid and compelling use cases for the readers (e.g. technologists, academicians, military, government) interested in what Information Warfare really means, when its lenses are applied to current technology. Without sacrificing accuracy, rigor and, most importantly,the big picture of Information Warfare, this book dives into several relevant and up-to-date critical domains. The authors illustrate how finance (an always green target of Information Warfare) is intertwined with Social Media, and how an opponent could exploit these latter ones to reach its objectives. Also, how cryptocurrencies are going to reshape the economy, and the risks involved by this paradigm shift. Even more compelling is how the very fabric of society is going to be reshaped by technology, for instance how our democratic elections are exposed to risks that are even greater than what appears in the current public discussions. Not to mention how our Critical Infrastructure is becoming exposed to a series of novel threats, ranging from state-supported malware to drones. A detailed discussion of possible countermeasures and what the open issues are for each of the highlighted threats complete this book. This book targets a widespread audience that includes researchers and advanced level students studying and working in computer science with a focus on security. Military officers, government officials and professionals working in this field will also find this book useful as a reference.