An example of buzzwords concatenated with other words to form new supposedly hip buzzwords.
Cyberwarfare was probably coined in the late 80's or early 90's.
It is intended to describe a form of electronic war practiced not by blowing things up and killing
people, but rather by the use of global computer networks to attack computer systems used by opponents.
The idea is to knock out power grids, airport control systems, communications, and other systems.
Generally, cyberwarfare will not be specifically targeted against military targets; civilian systems, and
any other system will be hit if it can cripple the enemy.
Cyberwarfare may also include in its definition the use of "hacking" or "cracking" techniques to
perform espionage operations. Theft of information or the ability to present misinformation to an
enemy may be a more effective tactic than trying to kill power grids remotely.
The former is probably what is thought of more often when referring to cyberwar. The term
cyberwar, and other terms involving the term cyber have fallen out of vogue in the last few years. Cyber
is no longer the cool prefix it once was, and this definition probably falls under "electronic warfare"
today.
I believe Tom Clancy's Net Force books are roughly about cyberwarfare, but I've never read one,
so correct me if I'm wrong.
The Nodeshell Rescue Team