BioWarfare and Cyber Warfare a new Kind Of War: Biowarfare And Info warfare

10Ongoing And Future Business Practice

10.1Business Warfare

For these, we may learn from two great works on war: ⁴¹

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  Sun-tzu ping-fa or Sun Tzu the Art of War is one of those rare texts that transcends time. Though it was written 6^th century B.C., it is arguably still one of the most important works on the subject of strategy today. Written by Sun Wu, Chinese general of the state of Wu, The Art of War was intended only for the military elite of his time period. However, this treatise would later be absorbed by others of influence, from the fearless samurai in feudal Japan to the shrewd business leaders of the 21^st century.
  
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  General Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was one of the greatest writers on war. His magnum opus, On War, is carefully studied in military schools to this day, for its principles are as valid for nuclear as for conventional and guerrilla warfare. Weapons may have changed, but warfare itself is based on two immutable characteristics: strategy and tactics.
  

10.2Business Cyber War

It is not inconceivable that viruses, worms, Trojan horses, logic bombs, and back doors can be incorporated in software for use by clients so that a vendor can have a handle over the users. Hardware can also be designed with chipping feature for the same purposes. Indeed, in this new world of cut-throat business competition, it is not always economically feasible to develop all critical technologies and supporting software in-house. It is prudent to find a compromise between farming out projects and developing in-house. For example, in the biotechnology sector, it is very common for companies to license software from bioinformatics companies. In an effort for the licensee to avoid possible financial losses resulting from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, logic bombs and back doors, in the licensing agreement between licensor (bioinformatics company) and licensee (biotechnology company), a clause may be included. A sample is provided below:

Viruses; Disabling Codes. Licensor represents and warrants that any Software and computer media furnished to Company pursuant to the License Agreement shall be free from computer viruses and any undocumented or unauthorized methods for terminating or disrupting the operation of, or gaining access to, software, computer systems or other computing resources or data, or other code or features which result in or cause damage, loss or disruption to all or any part of computer systems or other computing resources. Licensor shall not incorporate into Software any termination logic or any means to electronically repossess any Software licensed under the licensing agreement. “Termination logic” shall mean computer code that uses the internal clock of the computer to test for the date and/or time (e.g., Friday the 13^th), use count, execution key, or any related techniques, as a trigger to render inoperable or otherwise disable the Software or any related computer system.

“Assassination” in the business sector can also be strategically exercised by hiring away key employees from chief competitors. This has happened. On January 24, 1997, Informix Software Inc., a Menlo Park database software firm, filed a lawsuit against its largest competitor, Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, claiming theft of trade secrets. The suit was filed in Oregon’s Circuit Court for Multnomah County in Portland, Oregon, USA. The action stems from Oracle’s recruitment and hiring of 11 employees from the Informix product-development laboratory in Portland. The suit charges Oracle and a former Informix employee with misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition. It was seeking injunctive relief and punitive damages.⁴⁵

Just prior to the incident, Wall Street Journal had predicted Informix to be the database company of the new century. After the incident, and with a legerdemain trick from Oracle by turning news media coverage of the incident into a promotion campaign, Oracle came out the victor in the “assassination” and psychological campaign. During the heydays of dotcoms hype, Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, was briefly the richest man on Earth. The stock of Informix plummeted after the incident and it never recovers to its luster.

“Assassinations” of employees have spurred a lucrative business. Head hunter and executive search agencies spring up to fill the gap. Head hunter agencies are for more routine and project level jobs. Executive search agencies are for management level positions. Essentially, these agencies move the work force from one sector, such as the academic sector, to another, such as the private sector. Or they move the work force from one company to another. At low unemployment, such as during the dotcom heydays, jobs and positions are bountiful and these agencies enjoy their best business. At a time of economic downturn, such as during the demise.com period of 2001, these agencies have a harder time to find vacancies to relocate those out of jobs.

Despite the faltering economy and a flurry of layoff across most industries in 2001, demand for high skilled workers with expertise in biotechnology remains strong. Most companies seem reluctant to relinguish any talent simply to shave costs, and the few employees that have been let go quickly find employment in competing companies.

“Friends and foes” can also be played in the business sector. This comes in the forms of strategic alliances, partnerships, and consortia to pool resources to achieve a goal that would otherwise be impossible or much harder to achieve alone. The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium of the public sector and Celera Genomics of the private sector are excellent examples.

“Social engineering” is also common in the business sector. Workshops and conferences are fora for social engineering. End-of-the-meeting-day gatherings at pubs are the best places to tune into company secrets or new breakthroughs. It seems, after a few beers and drinks, experts, researchers and scientists talk more freely.

“Psychological wars” are usually waged by companies to their target audiences. For example, pharmaceutical companies use television advertisements to stretch their advertising dollars to the point of misleading viewers by instilling fear such as showing golden age inconveniences and ailments, or else by derogating viewers’ ego such as promoting life-style drugs whose primary functions are to restore social faculties or attributes that tend to diminish with age.

After the September 11 blitz that turned civilian airliners into missiles, killing some 4,000 people, the United States must plan for new and different foes who will rely on surprise, deception and asymmetric weapons, or those meant to overcome the lopsided U.S. edge in conventional arms. “Asymmetric wars” may also be waged in the business sector by smaller, more savvy companies against monopolistic competitors. For example, in the 1980s, while others were losing money in the computer business, Digital Equipment Corporation was making a lot of profit by exploiting IBM’s weakness in small computers.

It is thus not inconceivable that all the information warfare scenarios described above can be nefarious attempts by one company against the other to gain competitive advantage.

11Ending Note

We just cannot deny the deniability.