Information Warfare: February 15, 2003

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Myths die hard, particularly this one from the 1991 Gulf War. It was alleged that U.S. crashed Iraq's communications network via a computer virus inserted into an computer printer. This has long been known to be a myth. But since the story made it's way into official documents discussing lessons to be learned from the Persian Gulf, it won't go away. As the war on terror and a war with Iraq get lots of media attention, the "Gulf War printer virus" keeps resurfacing as a sterling example of Internet warfare in action. Ironically, the story began as a 1991 April Fool's story in computer industry magazine "Inforworld." A year later, newsmagazine U.S. News & World Report picked it up as a real story (and still "stands behind" its gaffe.) Expect to see more myths coming out any new war in Iraq. 

 

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