Open Sources of Information - Essay Example

Open Sources of Information Name: Institution: Abstract This paper argues that open sources of information are valuable to the modern information warfare. A state can use open sources of information for defense and attack. Open sources ensures fast, efficient and effective collection of information not only in the intelligence area but across all government’s disciplines and hence can be said to be cost-effective. Open sources provide abundance of information that is critical to understanding an opponent. Open sources of information allow nations to use several espionage techniques to gain information helpful to an enemy. Open source intelligence forms the critical basis of all the other sources of intelligence. The current diversified open sources represent a methodology change in warfare from weapon era to information period. Open sources are emerging as the most effective tool in fighting against deception. Open sources of information have facilitated two main functions of information warfare: propaganda aimed at shaping the public opinion in the desired direction and operational planning for defense and attack. Open sources provide time-sensitive information about political groups and personalities, civil infrastructure and financial factors that can influence operation employment of military. Open sources are particularly useful to contingency planning which cannot be pursued with the insufficient information from the clandestinely sources. On the other hand, open sources have are prone to manipulations and hence may not be often accurate or depict the actual situation. Moreover, the sheer volume of information accessible required sufficient manpower to collect, analyze and disseminate which may not be readily available. Introduction Open source information can be defined as the information that is overtly available and which everybody can legally obtain by observation, request or purchase. Examples of open sources of information include newspapers, television, radio, Internet information, government reports, press speeches and conferences, academic publications, budgets and demographics, commercial imagery, working papers and research reports among many. Information warfare includes measures taken to protect the integrity of a nation’s information systems from disruptions, corruption or exploitation whereas at the same time destroying, corrupting and exploiting the information systems of an adversary so as to achieve information advantage to influence decision-making (Alberts, Garstka, Hayes, and Signori, 2001). This paper will demonstrate how open sources of information are useful to the modern information warfare. Nations use information warfare to gain an advantage over an enemy. A nation can use open sources to get knowledge about an enemy, to delete or modify an enemy’s information systems. Moreover, a nation can use information to protect its information systems from malicious attacks and codes. Information gained from open sources helps nation gain information superiority, make it impossible for an enemy to use its information systems and make sure that it protects its information and communication systems from manipulation. Information plays a key role when a government decides to attack an enemy either physically or psychologically through destruction, disorientation and deception. A nation can use information collected from open sources to deceive, disorient or destroy an enemy. The aim of information warfare is to subdue an opponent without fighting by primarily targeting their knowledge systems (Cordesman, 2003). Availability of open sources has led to the smooth transition from the traditional physical dimension of physical attack to the modern information dimension of attack. Information has a significant part in winning warfare as it gives the military influential information advantage over their enemies. A state can disrupt the decision-making process of an adversary through interfering with their ability to obtain, analyze, disseminate and use information. A state may wish to impede the decision-making of an enemy so as to delay or even deter conflict to its own advantage (Lowenthal, 2003). A state can use information available in open sources to shape the battlefield in a way to ensure their victory. A state can attack the computer systems of an enemy using computer viruses to compromise the whole information network and steal important files. States are protecting themselves against attack by an adversary by overseeing information security training programs across all disciplines, highlighting the vulnerabilities and risks linked to the use of open sources of information. Defense measures taken by states also include implementing an information security plan that entails personnel screening practices, monitoring practices and security training. The other way of protecting its information from attack is by limiting the access of employees to internet and encrypting communication on all information systems. States are also making sure that all products, programs, materials, components and integrated circuits considered to pertinent to state security are manufactured in the country or by highly trusted allies. Moreover, private owners of open information systems that relates to state’s critical infrastructure are required to be ISO certified. Furthermore, states are investing more in producing many domestic scientist and engineers (Liu and Jajodia, 2002). Open sources of information make it easy to obtain information about an adversary. A large volume of information about an enemy is readily accessible in open sources. In modern era, information concerning an opponent can be gained very fast on the Internet. The volume of information about an enemy in the Internet has greatly increased in this modern era as marked with the increase in news articles, blogs and academic publication accessible online. The internet is a very rich open source of information as research and newspapers institutions are posting their editorial information online. Moreover, the costs of accessing information online are low and hence many nations are considering it as the best method to obtain political, military and economic information about an opponent nation. It is estimated that US intelligence services obtain 80% of its information from open sources (Ackerman, 2006). The rate of obtaining information from open source in this modern era where threats are on the increase is becoming a critical factor for state security. In this modern era, the substantial increase in laptops and their linking through the Internet provides vast volume of public information which is freely available. In fact, the current terrorist threat, other non-nation threats, as well as the increasing requisite for the government to consider security issues must be sharpening the focus of the government on the potential as well as the tactical value of online open sources information (Goldman, 2001). Information obtained in open sources can offer indications and cues of hostile intent. Analyzing the content of several open sources provides more reliable basis for estimating instability and stability of an adversary. Clandestine sources may not be always reliable as they are limited in terms of access and offer a personal perspective and hence are more likely to be biased. Furthermore, open sources can offer unclassified threat information that the government can use to inform and mobilize community. Integrating open sources of information into the state’s intelligence cycle ensures that policy makers remain fully informed. Open sources enable a state to provide the right information at the right time to the intended public in the appropriate location. The right information may offer an immense tactical and strategic advantage. Information superiority is very critical in information warfare. It openly addresses the awareness of the adversary, making him to react. A nation can only experience success in information warfare if it is aware of what is going on by getting accurate information. Open sources can sufficiently provide this information as it result in understanding the problem and explains the current situation. Assessment of open sources of information when collecting intelligence offers a good background. Competitive intelligence is founded essentially on open sources and no wonder in this modern era, the share of open sources in intelligence is greatly increasing (Cordesman, 2000). The availability of information in the Internet provides a state with handy command, control as well as communications ability which did not exist in the past. It gives the state the knowledge of the effect of the imagery information of an attack and the fact that the state has shown a savvy use of this information demonstrates an appreciation of contemporary information warfare. The masterfully produced and edited Osama bin Laden’s video statement where he declares war on US is an exemplary example of how modern information warfare works. This videotape was skillfully packed and cued to be released immediately the U.S. struck Afghanistan, which was expected to be on 7th October, 2001. The ease of access of information and communications in open sources has allowed extremists to operate at any place in the world (Sands, 2005). Open sources are particularly useful when it comes to demographic and cultural intelligence as these areas are not well-covered by traditional intelligence gathering and analysis abilities. Moreover, open sources can offer valuable geographic and civil overviews that can substantially influence major military procurement and design decisions. Information superiority refers to the ability to collect, analyze and disseminate a continuous flow of information whereas exploiting or making sure an enemy doesn’t have the same capacity. Information superiority means that a state should have the capacity to take offensive or defensive actions in case its military information is attacked. These actions may include increasing access restrictions, terminating vulnerable processes or else initiating other activities to decrease the potential destruction of the Military information (Goldman, 2001). In addition, open sources of information can offer the civil and geographical generalizations needed for military planning and military employment in an adversary state. For example, a state can obtain credible generalization about the capabilities of sea, ground and air forces of an enemy that its military can encounter in case they decide to attack. Geographical information that a state can obtain from open sources about an opponent include temperatures, water availability and cross-country mobility while civil information include port clearance and bridge-loading. Open sourced of information have given nations the capability to disrupt the opponent instead of destroying his forces. Improved information tends to facilitate a cost-effective use of force (Best and Cumming, 2007). Open sources have proved to be highly relevant and effective against modern security threats, such as counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation and peacekeeping operations. Open sources are a critical resource when it comes to obtaining maps and digital targeting information of an opponent whereby geographical information cannot be gained from government sources. A state can get latest maps containing all bridges, roads and airfields from commercial imagery resources. Open source information helps a government to know how to destroy the performance of political abilities that an adversary utilizes and to consider exploiting political abilities so as to maintain coalition communications (Bean, 2007). However, open sources of information have their disadvantages. Information available online is vulnerable to attacks and hacking and hence the information obtained from the Internet may not represent the actual situation as it is vulnerable to manipulation. Thus, information collected from the Internet cannot be always trusted. Computer hacking makes it possible to access the computer files of an adversary, hence obtaining thorough information on his abilities, readiness as well as financial status. The tools used to hack a computer are not expensive: only a personal PC and modem is required. A hacker can easily access any other PC that is connected to the internet using these simple tools. What is interesting is that a person who is a thousand miles away from the target can easily do this as long as he has a personal PC (Sands, 2005). Searching the right information in the vast volumes of open sources can be time and cost consuming. Locating and obtaining information from open sources that is valuable to information warfare can be a difficult process given the overwhelming quantities of information available. The continuous explosion of information in open sources can severely overload human resources expected to identify and collect it. Open sources of information also raise the issue of volatility. It is estimated that the average lifespan of an online page is 75 days while the whole website can remain inaccessible even for two days. This implies that information in open sources need to be collected as fast as possible before it disappear and this in turn requires adequate human resources (Ackerman, 2006). Conclusion Open sources have a significant role to play in information warfare. It’s no doubt that open sources are the major building block for information warfare. They provide early warning and hence give the government ample time to prepare for an attack. Open sources has practically unlimited potential on every topic, is relatively cheap since capability is maintained at the expense of someone else, provide latest information and anyone can have access. Open sources of information are more accessible, abundant and valuable to information warfare. They have become increasingly cheaper and easier to obtain in modern era. Open sources of information increasingly enhance information warfare. Open sources are of great strategic value to information warfare as information is a vital enabler. The information dominance brought about by exponential of open sources in contemporary world has made many nations not to use force against an adversary. References Ackerman, R.K. 2006. ‘Intelligence Center Mines Open Sources’, Signal. Alberts, D.S., Garstka, J.J., Hayes, R.E. and Signori, D.A. 2001. Understanding Information Age Warfare, CCRP Publication Series, Washington, DC. Bean, H. 2007. ‘The DNI’s Open Source Center: An Organizational Communication Perspective’, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, vol. 20, no. 2, Summer, pp. 240–57. Best, R.A. and Cumming, A. 2007. Open Source Intelligence (OSINT): Issues for Congress, CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service, CRS-1 Cordesman, A. H. 2000. “Homeland Defense: Information Warfare,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, pp. 185-186 Cordesman, A. H. 2003. “Critical Infrastructure Protection and Information Warfare,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, Defending America: Redefining the Conceptual Borders of Homeland Defense Goldman, E.O. 2001. ‘New Threats, New Identities, and New Ways of War: The Sources of Change in National Security Doctrine’, Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 43–76 (45). Liu, P. and Shushii Jajodia, S. 2002. Trusted Recovery and Defensive Information Warfare, Boston, Kluwer Academic. Lowenthal, M.M. 2003. Intelligence, From Secrets to Policy, Second Edition, CQ Press, Washington, DC, p. 79. Sands, A. 2005. ‘Integrating Open Sources into Transnational Threat Assessments’, in Jennifer E. Sims and Burton Gerber, Transforming U.S. Intelligence, Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC, p. 64. Read More