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Cyber Weaponry pp 143–156Cite as

No Smoking Gun: Cyber Weapons and Drug Traffickers

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Abstract

Drug trafficking is a criminal threat of billion-dollar proportions. Drug traffickers exercise international influence and Australian policymakers therefore need to reconsider the framework on which current policy rests. If the so-called war-on-drugs is couched in those terms, then it makes sense to explore a war-like approach—the use of information warfare to defeat drug traffickers’ information processes that are vital to supporting their worldwide financial networks as well as their command and control arrangements. This chapter promotes discussion about a drugs policy that focuses on attacking the source of the illicit drug problem using cyber weapons.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    First generation warfare was characterised by the Age-of-Napoleon; forces armed with guns operating in close-order formations to defeat cavalry and infantry who were armed with swords and bayonets. Second generation warfare was the age of firepower, managed in such a way that enabled an army to win through attrition. Third generation warfare saw the advent of decentralised attacks based on manoeuvrability and strategy. Fourth generation warfare is much more irregular. In the main, it comprises asymmetric operations that are characterized by mismatch between the combatants’ resources with an emphasis is on bypassing the stronger force by the weaker (Lind 2004).

  2. 2.

    An obscure area of the Internet that is distinguished by special search engine access, “password protect pages, unlinked websites and hidden content accessible only to those in the know” (Bartlett 2014: 3).

  3. 3.

    John T. Stark (1990: 6) in his study Selective Assassination as an Instrument of National Policy argues that interception is a refined tactic of unconventional warfare.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks the editors of the Australian Defence Force Journal (Prunckun 2005) and the Journal of the Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (Prunckun 2007) for permission to use his previously published material.

Principal Concepts

The principal concepts associated with this chapter are listed below. Demonstrate your understanding of each by writing a short definition or explanation in one or two sentences:

  • dark net;

  • drug-trafficking organizations;

  • fourth-generation warfare; and

  • war-on-drugs.

Study Questions

  1. 1.

    Explain why organized criminal enterprises, in general, are a threat to civil society, and specifically, why are those that deal in illicit drugs?

  2. 2.

    Explain why IT-based systems are important to drug-trafficking organizations’ illicit operations.

Learning Activity

Research the military term psyops and read about what it is and how it is used in warfare—both historically and in a contemporary setting. Then, using these examples as an ideas springboard, brainstorm parallel ideas that could be used in cyberspace; particularly, how disinformation could be used to undermine the confidence of drug traffickers’ personnel, partners, and/or third-party supporters in the legitimate world. List potential ethical implications of such a campaign and how, perhaps using legal advisors, you could keep the psycop within the restraints expected in law.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University, Sydney, Australia

    Henry Prunckun

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  1. Henry Prunckun
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Henry Prunckun .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Criminologist, Australian Graduate School Policing and Security, Sydney, Australia

    Henry Prunckun

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Prunckun, H. (2018). No Smoking Gun: Cyber Weapons and Drug Traffickers. In: Prunckun, H. (eds) Cyber Weaponry. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74107-9_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74107-9_11

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74106-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74107-9

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