Countering non-lethal information warfare: lessons learned on foiling the Information Superhighwayman of the North American public switched telephone network

The United States relies for its very existence-economically, socially, and politically-on an extraordinary sophisticated and intricate set of long distance networks for energy distribution, communication, and transportation. In addition to their serious vulnerabilities to accidents and nature, these networks present a tempting target to terrorists and to any antagonist contemplating an international move contrary to US interests. While warnings such as the one cited above predicted potentially catastrophic consequences, the fragility of today´s global networks of computer based systems, used to business process reengineer America´s industrial and military infrastructure into lanes on the information superhighway, together with concerns over information warfare, are taking front burner attention on the agenda´s of military and civilian agencies within the United States. The paper describes and helps to further set the stage for the establishment and realization of a defensive information warfare security baseline architecture for the NII information superhighway and its global partners and components throughout their lifecycle, from research and development to deployment and beyond