Information wars in the modern world: essence, basic concepts, goals

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

The media, having become a part of human life and changed it dramatically, led to the emergence of the concept of "information age". It has completely changed the way warfare is conducted, providing commanders and authorities with vast quantities and unprecedented quality of intelligence. But it is necessary to distinguish between the war of the information age and the actual information war. In the first case, data is used for the successful conduct of military operations, in the second case, information is considered as a potential weapon, a separate object of confrontation and a profitable target.

Information and technology

Based on the ongoing events, information appears - their perception and interpretation. This concept, as such, is the result of the interaction of the perception of data and the association of some meaning with them. This definition is related to modern technologies, and the speed of data transmission and interpretation depends on it. Therefore, it is required to introduce the concept of an information function. This isabsolutely any activity that is related to the storage, transformation, receipt and transfer of information.

The better information the command has, the more advantage the side has over the enemy. Thus, the US Air Force is preparing a flight mission based on the weather forecast and reconnaissance results. The efficiency of the task is increased by accurate navigation. All of the above are types of information functions that greatly increase the effectiveness of combat operations. Military intelligence provides and improves the solution of immediate tasks by troops.

Deciphering the term

All countries strive to obtain any information that ensures the implementation of certain strategic goals, and use the data. This can be done for military, political and economic purposes. Such weapons allow you to protect your own data and reduce the ability of the enemy to fight. So, information warfare in the modern world can be called any action to use or distort information of the enemy, to protect one's own data. It is this definition that is fundamental for several statements considering the term in several meanings.

Semantic options

Information warfare against the enemy is only a means, not an end goal (just like bombing is a means to an end). The military has always sought to influence data that is knownenemy and use them effectively. Modern technologies have made data very vulnerable to direct access and use. Such vulnerability is explained by the significant speed of access, ubiquitous reach and open transmission of data, the ability of information systems to perform functions autonomously, and concentrated data storage. Defense mechanisms can reduce vulnerability.

The term is used in a broad and narrow sense. In a broad sense, the concept is applicable to refer to the confrontation in the media and the information environment to achieve various goals: political, military or economic (in this sense, the term "psychological warfare" is also mentioned). In a narrow sense, information warfare in the age of technology is a military confrontation to achieve the advantage of one side in the collection, use and processing of information, reducing the effectiveness of the corresponding actions of the enemy.

History of the phenomenon

World information wars are a phenomenon common in the modern high-tech world, but not new. It is generally accepted that the term appeared at the end of World War II and began to be used especially often in the eighties of the twentieth century in the United States during the Cold War. But even ancient authors described propaganda campaigns that demoralized and weakened the enemy, and also raised the morale of comrades-in-arms.

The concept was recorded in documentary sources during the Crimean War of 1953-1856. Then the English newspapers wrote that the Russians were shooting at the sailors inSea Turks after the battle of Sinop. The concept became extremely widespread relatively recently, when the methods of socio-political action and counteraction in the information sphere became more active. During the Cold War, a Canadian media researcher noted that World War III would become a guerrilla information war where there was no distinction between military and civilians.

Characteristics

Information wars in the modern world are waged between groups that have their own power structures, have different (somewhat mutually exclusive) value systems, including an ideological component. Such groups are recognized, partially recognized and unrecognized states, extremist, terrorist and other organizations seeking to seize power by force, separatist and liberation movements, parties to the civil war.

Confrontation is conducted in the information space, provides active support for the struggle for economic, military, political and other purposes. At the strategic level, counteraction within the framework of modern information warfare is carried out with the aim of destroying the values of the enemy side, including replacing them with their own value orientations, destroying the enemy’s confrontation potential, subordinating its resources, and ensuring the possibility of their use in one’s own interests.

Participants and restrictions

Participate in the information war as separatecommunities and individuals, as well as structures subordinate to the authorities. The confrontation is ongoing: both in peacetime and during armed struggle. This is the toughest type of confrontation, because at the moment there are no generally accepted moral or legal norms, restrictions on the means and methods of conducting an information war. All actions of opponents are limited only by considerations of performance.

Management methods

Information wars in Europe and the world are waged by various methods. The main ones are the stuffing of false information or the provision of available data in a way that is beneficial to their goals and needs. Such methods make it possible to change the assessment of ongoing events by the local population, demoralize the enemy, and ensure the transition to the side of the leading information influence.

In addition, there are branches of information warfare, for example, psychological warfare, which is largely characterized by the same features. Information-psychological warfare can be defined as a conflict that arises in the military, political, economic and other spheres of social relations. It affects the foundations of social life, is distinguished by a high striking degree and intensity.

Examples from history

An example from history: Stepan Razin wrote letters in which he called on everyone to his side, posing as a fighter against the local authorities, which had betrayed the royal family. With rising literacy rates and the advent of mainstream media in the twentieth century, information warfareagainst Russia and other countries has become more effective. A vivid example of the impact on public consciousness is the activity of J. Goebbels. A common tool for conducting information warfare in the modern world is the impact through social networks. This phenomenon was clearly manifested during the "Arab Spring".

Other remedies

The entire possible list of means is used: from direct lies, blocking the distribution of notifications that are undesirable for a certain party, a method of presenting data with true content, to a special interpretation of information. On a mass scale, the available data are "cleared" of information that does not meet the interests of the general public. Common to all methods and means of information warfare in its modern form is the manipulation of consciousness.

The means do not include terrorist attacks, economic and diplomatic means of confrontation and influence, physical impact, financing of agents of influence, the use of psychoactive drugs. But these methods can be used in parallel, along with the means of information warfare. The object is the mass consciousness: both group (the most important groups) and individual (persons whose decisions depend on decisions on the most important issues). The latter usually include heads of military formations, the prime minister and the president, the head of the Foreign Ministry and the defense department, and diplomatic representatives.

Information Warfare Tasks

In the modern world, such an impact is aimed at destroying the stability of the community, integritygroup, undermining its moral foundations, accepted norms and trust as the main component of social capital, defragmentation, inciting discord and enmity. These goals of the information war can be achieved both against the backdrop of an overabundance of information, and in a notification or social vacuum. There is an imposition of alien goals (this is different from advertising and ordinary propaganda, which can be carried out in the country's own interests).

Cold War

A striking example of the information war against Russia from the relatively recent past is the ideological aspect of the Cold War. Some researchers believe that the collapse of the USSR was caused not only by the ambitions of the ruling elites and economic reasons, but also by the use of information methods that contributed to the start of domestic political processes. These processes ended with perestroika and the collapse of the USSR. In the same way, the KGB carried out "active measures" to influence public opinion in Western countries, individuals, state and public organizations.

Modern Wars

In our time, the concept of "information-psychological operations" is widespread among the US military. It is known that the US Department of Defense promised to pay contractors in Iraq up to 300 billion US dollars for the production of political materials, the preparation of entertainment television programs and public service announcements, news for the Iraqi media in order to attract local support for the United States. This information was openly published in newspapers in 2008.

Another exampleinformation war - Arab-Israeli conflict. The parties to the confrontation used various media and similar resources in their own interests: television, the press, the Internet, and radio. There were active hacker attacks. For example, the Israeli organization JIDF blocked enemy websites, online communities in social networks. Palestinian hackers hacked several thousand Israeli websites (more than 750 in just one day of clashes). Arab newspapers and TV channels actively used fabricated propaganda videos, which often caused a wide resonance in society.

During the Vietnam War, the local government hid losses from American bombing. The Vietnamese went to great lengths to convince the population that the bombings were not reaching their goal. Official reports indicated that there were no human casu alties, but domestic animals died. The number of animals in the reports was also clearly regulated.

During the civil war in Angola (February 1988), the Cubans shot down a South African bomber. Parts of the aircraft were subsequently passed off as the wreckage of others, which the Cubans claimed to have shot down. In Yugoslavia in 1999, local newspapers reported that the country's air defenses had destroyed more than 160 NATO planes and helicopters. Immediately after the end of the conflict, another figure was announced - sixty-eight, and a year later the figures decreased to 37.

Georgian-Ossetian conflict

The information war in Russia was fought during the conflict in South Ossetia a decade ago. Lightingevents played a significant role, because it influenced public opinion regarding this situation from one side or another. American experts have repeatedly claimed that the website of the President of Georgia, for example, was subjected to a prolonged cyberattack by Russia, which led to a server shutdown.

The website of the Georgian government was also attacked. The Western media tried to present the country to the world community as a victim of aggression, which was treacherously attacked by the Russian Federation. These events were covered by Dmitry Taran (in the "Information War" the presenter often compared the methods of fighting with those used today by the Ukrainian authorities during the conflict in the south-east of the country).