The Palestinian-Israeli Cyberconflict erupted in 2000, when Israeli hackers crippled the prime website of Hezbollah by mobilizing pro-Israeli supporters to "bomb" the site with automated floods of electronic mail. In retaliation, Hezbollah rallied pro-Arab supporters for a counter-attack, which soon downed the main Israeli government website and the Israeli Foreign Ministry site. Attacks involving website defacements, denial-of-service, viruses, and Trojan horses occurred by both parties for a span of months, effectively shutting down websites, disrupting Internet service and e-commerce. A study and analysis of the utilization and effects of Computer Network Operations (CNO) between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian actors during the al-Aqsa Intifada may highlight current trends in warfare, support the notion that information may level the battlefield, and provide the United States with the means to better protect itself against such attacks in the future. This thesis seeks to collect, classify, analyze, define, and resolve IO/IW; the utilization and effects of CNO during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, and how such analysis can be applied to United States national security.

Thesis (M.S. in Systems Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Dan C. Boger, Raymond Buettner. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-52). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-106). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S. in Joint Campaign Planning and Strategy)--Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School, 2006. / "31 May 2006." Electronic version of original print document. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Joint Campaign Planning and Strategy)--Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School, 2005. / "13 May 05." Electronic version of original print document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-74).

Human Systems Integration Report / In response to technological advances, Network Centric Warfare (NCW) emerged as a theory to leverage the technology available in todayâ s world. Advocates of NCW claim that technology will improve information sharing by â â µrobustly networking a forceâ , thereby improving mission effectiveness. This study proposes a methodology with which to test the first tenet of NCW: a robustly networked force improves information sharing. Lessons learned from Human Systems Integration (HSI) demonstrate that in order to improve mission effectiveness, characteristics of both the human and the technology must be considered. As such, the impact of human characteristics and traits on mission effectiveness, as measured by individual and team performance, are assessed using a computer simulation, C3Fire. Results at the individual level suggest that persons scoring high on extraversion and low on pessimism perform better than those scoring low on extraversion and high on pessimism. In contrast, at the team level, homogenous teams as measured by optimism-pessimism perform worse than diverse teams. Results of this thesis provide a methodology with which to examine NCWâ s claims in a laboratory setting. Preliminary evidence demonstrates the need to consider human characteristics and traits in the design and composition of network teams.

In the past decades, China's military modernization and economy fast development has increasingly attracted international attention, especially the United States. In addition, the PLA has begun to study the revolution in the military affairs (RMA) by focusing on asymmetric warfare capabilities under high-tech conditions. China definitely believes that asymmetric warfare operations have the advantage of creating a more smart attack style to avoid directly facing U.S. powerful military strength. In summary, asymmetric warfare operations are considered by the PLA as a kind of warfare that combined both the thinking of China's classic military strategist Sun Tzu "using the inferior to defeat the superior" and the demand of the modern information technology such as IW applications. In face of China's development of asymmetric warfare capabilities, the United States must deeply think about how to deal with the threat from China's asymmetric warfare operations, which is gradually becoming the superpower in the world.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis provides insight into how terrorist organizations exploit the information environment to achieve their objectives. The study establishes an analytical IO framework, by integrating US military doctrine with a fundamental approach to IO theory. The framework proves useful in examining the IO tools terrorists have assembled and how they implement them to influence their target audiences. The thesis shows that terrorists are, indeed, naturally linked to the information environment by their nature and strategy. Generally speaking, all terrorists employ IO tactically to enhance their operations. However, many organizations have a profound understanding of the information environment and also have the ability to manipulate information to achieve their objectives. Since, terrorist organizations are militarily weaker than the states they face and cannot rely on physical attacks to accomplish their goals, they must adopt an information strategy to achieve their objectives. This thesis emphasizes three primary conclusions: first terrorist conduct violent attacks in the physical environment to enable operations in the information environment. Second, terrorist integrate offensive and defensive IO to survive and appear legitimate to potential supporters and to the state. Finally, terrorists intentionally target four different audiences: opposing, uncommitted, sympathetic, and active to influence their perceptions. / Major, United States Army

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis done in cooperation with the MOVES Institute / The Information Age empowers individuals, and affords small groups an opportunity to attack states' interests with an increasing variety of tactics and great anonymity. Current strategies to prevail against these emerging threats are inherently defensive, relying on potential adversaries to commit mistakes and engage in detectable behavior. While defensive strategies are a critical component of a complete solution set, they cede initiative to the adversary. Moreover, reactive measures are not suited to quickly suppress adversary networks through force. To address this shortfall in strategic planning, the science of networks is rapidly making clear that natural systems built over time with preferential attachment form scale-free networks. These networks are naturally resilient to failure and random attack, but carry inherent vulnerabilities in their highly connected hubs. Taking the offensive against networks is therefore an exercise in discovering and attacking such hubs. To find these hub vulnerabilities in network adversaries, this thesis proposes a strategy called Stimulus Based Discovery, which leads to rapid network mapping and then systematically improves the accuracy and validity of this map while simultaneously degrading an adversary's network cohesion. Additionally, this thesis provides a model for experimenting with Stimulus Based Discovery in a Multi-Agent System. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

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