The Information Warfare Life Cycle Model

Information warfare (IW) is a dynamic and developing concept, which constitutes a number of disciplines. This paper aims to develop a life cycle model for information warfare that is applicable to all of the constituent disciplines. The model aims to be scalable and applicable to civilian and military incidents where information warfare tactics are employed. Existing information warfare models are discussed, and a new model is developed from the common aspects of these existing models. The proposed model is then applied to a variety of incidents to test its applicability and scalability. The proposed model is shown to be applicable to multiple disciplines of information warfare and is scalable, thus meeting the objectives of the model. How to cite this article: Van Niekerk, B. & Maharaj, M.S., 2011, ‘The Information Warfare Life Cycle Model’, SA Journal of Information Management 13(1), Art. #476, 9 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102.sajim.v13i1.476