Information warfare is a new concept developed largely by the U.S. Department of Defense in conjunction with a number of Pentagon support institutions such as RAND and the National Defense University. Because it is a new term, and because it evolves from an as yet rapidly changing field - information technologies - there are few commonly held definitions among its principle theorists. The concept emerged first in the 1970s to refer primarily to a battle waged in the economic or cultural arenas between information haves and have-nots. It has since been used to describe the application of information technologies, specifically computers and telecommunication systems, to weaponry. And finally, with the advent of the Internet and the creation of cyberspace, information warfare has been a term to describe the propagandistic work of moving information around the net.
Haeni (1995), another researcher working in this area, prefers this definition of IW: "Actions taken to achieve information superiority by affecting adversary information, information based processes, and information systems, while defending ones own information, information based processes and information systems."
Although there is still no central definition for information warfare, most theorists agree with that fundamentally there are offensive and defensive aspects. RAND researchers describe two major types of information warfare: netwar and cyberwar.
Most of the information warfare literature is written from a pro-U.S. and pro-military perspective. These hegemonic and dominant forces often ignore or misrepresent the counterhegemonic application of information warfare by resistance groups.