In the context of the deployment of hybrid warfare, the development of information and communication technologies opens up virtually unlimited opportunities for hidden non-violent manipulative influence on a person, society, and the state.
The vast majority of experts on hybrid warfare agree that the leading component of hybrid warfare is information warfare. Information warfare means an interstate confrontation in the information sphere, which is conducted with the use of information weapons and means of information and psychological influence. At the same time, the elements of information warfare include: obtaining intelligence information, disinformation, psychological operations, cyber-attacks on information infrastructure, infection with computer viruses of enemy computer networks, as well as appropriate counteraction measures to protect their own information resources.
It should be noted that the term “information warfare” was one of the first to be used by Thomas P. Rona in the analytical report “weapon systems and information warfare” for the Boeing Company in 1976. From that moment on, the understanding that information can be a weapon begins to form. An avalanche-like flow of information (and disinformation) can harm any state (up to a coup d'etat and overthrow of power).
The main methods of conducting information and psychological warfare and carrying out destructive information influences include: propaganda, spreading rumors, provocations, disinformation, manipulation, suggestion, physical blocking of communication and telecommunications systems, psychological and psychotropic pressure, diversification of public consciousness (public opinion), intimidation, etc. For example, the purpose of propaganda by the aggressor state is to incite social hostility, escalate social conflicts, and escalate disputes in the society of the target state.
If until recently the Internet had a mainly informational component, then at the present stage it is increasingly gaining strength in propaganda, propaganda influence, characterized by pronounced aggressiveness.
Traditional mass media are increasingly working with internet resources as sources of information and means of influencing the consciousness of citizens. Information on the web is becoming more and more popular, socially significant, and quickly disseminated.
In the process of analyzing the essence of hybrid warfare, the term “psychological warfare” is also often used, which was first used by the British historian John Frederick Charles Fuller in the early twentieth century when analyzing the First World War. Later, American researchers borrowed this term and began to use the concept of “psychological operation” or “information operation” in this context.
The Institute of National Strategic Studies of the United States and some Western experts, analyzing the components of information warfare, distinguish the conduct of psychological warfare, the task of which is to manipulate the masses for the purpose of:
The key tools of information warfare include:
1) hiding information;
2) misrepresentation of information;
3) quantitative increment of messages of a certain type;
4) distraction from the important insignificant.
Specific features of information warfare are:
1) multi-vector (information operations are carried out simultaneously in several directions: the influence is directed against the population located in the conflict zone; against citizens of a hostile country located outside the zone of force influence; within the aggressor state — to justify the aggressive policy; in the international arena — to justify their actions or dissociate themselves from them, search for allies);
2) the imperceptible nature of information influence, the absence of obvious destruction;
3) insufficient predictability of results, delayed results over time;
4) variability of information influences and, accordingly, difficulties in rapid response to them;
5) influence in the vast majority not on material objects but on the intelligence, emotions, and psyche of people;
6) the nature of logistics is atypical for ordinary armed conflicts (information influences are carried out through radio and television, the Internet, social networks, and communication channels of social communities).
The most important signs of the presence of information influence today are considered:
1) high frequency and tendentiousness in the coverage of certain news, lack of correct discussion of different points of view, giving preference to emotional rather than analytical ways of presenting material in the media;
2) obsessive drawing of public attention to messages that discredit (even with the help of falsified data) the image of the state, its political, economic, scientific spheres, prominent representatives of the state, and historical facts;
3) the dominance of sensational, scandalous topics in the information space, which cause an aggravation of internal contradictions and tension in society;
4) the presence of messages that threaten the life and health of citizens, promote war, national and religious hostility, change of the constitutional order by force or violation of the territorial integrity of the state, totalitarianism, or Nazism;
5) publication of identical messages of dubious content in several mass media with the same dubious reputation at once;
6) increasing the share of the presence of foreign mass media and mass communication media in the information space of the target state;
7) increasing the number of domestic mass media controlled by foreign citizens or unknown persons;
8) obsessive re-transmission of TV, radio programs, movies, and foreign music.;
9) excessive and unjustified “strengthening” of the mass media personnel, news agencies, and PR agencies by foreign specialists;
10) creating physical obstacles to the functioning of mass media, especially in the border areas of the state;
11) targeted distribution of computer viruses and special programs capable of destroying, damaging, or intercepting information in global and local computer networks.
For example, the process of influencing information on society in social networks occurs according to the following algorithm:
1) highlighting in social networks and focusing on those messages (posts) or pictures (on Instagram, Facebook, etc.) that represent conflictogenic information.
2) identifying and specifying the focus group/target audience. Drawing a matrix of states and vectors of shift/transformation of group activity. Simultaneously with these actions, thematic pools of information are specified, the structure of verification and reliability sources is evaluated, and modifiers are segmented according to the degree of resonance for the correct sequence of “pumping.”.
3) working out patterns of behavioral norms. A list of expected results is constructed, a list of resonance modifiers is selected, a network of verification sources is created, and then a network of resonance control nodes for focus groups is determined.
4) combining information into a stream in accordance with the order of presentation. Information is presented in the direction in which it is convenient to “promote” it in society.
5) finding or creating a reason (provocation) that causes vivid public discontent.
6) launch pools of information that generate previous behavior patterns. Launch trigger pools of information to transform focus groups. The passage of information through nodes is monitored, and, if necessary, correction modifiers are connected.
7) Further, it is possible to bring people to the streets through social networks.
8) Launch modifiers for high-quality template transformation. Control and correction of the vector of formation of activity sources.
Through the management of such flows of appropriately prepared information in social networks, a certain segment of society can be managed.
In fact, the world is developing a society of network structures (network society). At the same time, a network is any medium through which you can transmit, receive, and generally pump the necessary information by activating the network, making it work. A high-quality, properly established (for the aggressor state) network is one that reproduces the “necessary” intended action, inscribed in the overall strategy. That is, the network that broadcasts any information is the main vital artery of society.
Summarizing, we emphasize that a network is an environment through which a certain signal can be passed, which will be perceived, transmitted further, and implemented. Thus, in a networked society, new ideas, other strategic models, and other people's logic are easily perceived, and therefore it can be won.
More details about hybrid warfare as a modern way of warfare, as well as the history of hybrid interstate conflicts and measures to counteract and counteract hybrid aggressions and expansions are in the book - Hybrid Wars (History, Politics, Security).
The vast majority of experts on hybrid warfare agree that the leading component of hybrid warfare is information warfare. Information warfare means an interstate confrontation in the information sphere, which is conducted with the use of information weapons and means of information and psychological influence. At the same time, the elements of information warfare include: obtaining intelligence information, disinformation, psychological operations, cyber-attacks on information infrastructure, infection with computer viruses of enemy computer networks, as well as appropriate counteraction measures to protect their own information resources.
It should be noted that the term “information warfare” was one of the first to be used by Thomas P. Rona in the analytical report “weapon systems and information warfare” for the Boeing Company in 1976. From that moment on, the understanding that information can be a weapon begins to form. An avalanche-like flow of information (and disinformation) can harm any state (up to a coup d'etat and overthrow of power).
The main methods of conducting information and psychological warfare and carrying out destructive information influences include: propaganda, spreading rumors, provocations, disinformation, manipulation, suggestion, physical blocking of communication and telecommunications systems, psychological and psychotropic pressure, diversification of public consciousness (public opinion), intimidation, etc. For example, the purpose of propaganda by the aggressor state is to incite social hostility, escalate social conflicts, and escalate disputes in the society of the target state.
If until recently the Internet had a mainly informational component, then at the present stage it is increasingly gaining strength in propaganda, propaganda influence, characterized by pronounced aggressiveness.
Traditional mass media are increasingly working with internet resources as sources of information and means of influencing the consciousness of citizens. Information on the web is becoming more and more popular, socially significant, and quickly disseminated.
In the process of analyzing the essence of hybrid warfare, the term “psychological warfare” is also often used, which was first used by the British historian John Frederick Charles Fuller in the early twentieth century when analyzing the First World War. Later, American researchers borrowed this term and began to use the concept of “psychological operation” or “information operation” in this context.
The Institute of National Strategic Studies of the United States and some Western experts, analyzing the components of information warfare, distinguish the conduct of psychological warfare, the task of which is to manipulate the masses for the purpose of:
- introducing hostile, harmful ideas and views into the public and individual consciousness;
- disorientation and misinformation of the population;
- weakening of certain beliefs and moral foundations;
- intimidation of their people by the image of the enemy;
- intimidation of the enemy with their own power, etc.
The key tools of information warfare include:
1) hiding information;
2) misrepresentation of information;
3) quantitative increment of messages of a certain type;
4) distraction from the important insignificant.
Specific features of information warfare are:
1) multi-vector (information operations are carried out simultaneously in several directions: the influence is directed against the population located in the conflict zone; against citizens of a hostile country located outside the zone of force influence; within the aggressor state — to justify the aggressive policy; in the international arena — to justify their actions or dissociate themselves from them, search for allies);
2) the imperceptible nature of information influence, the absence of obvious destruction;
3) insufficient predictability of results, delayed results over time;
4) variability of information influences and, accordingly, difficulties in rapid response to them;
5) influence in the vast majority not on material objects but on the intelligence, emotions, and psyche of people;
6) the nature of logistics is atypical for ordinary armed conflicts (information influences are carried out through radio and television, the Internet, social networks, and communication channels of social communities).
The most important signs of the presence of information influence today are considered:
1) high frequency and tendentiousness in the coverage of certain news, lack of correct discussion of different points of view, giving preference to emotional rather than analytical ways of presenting material in the media;
2) obsessive drawing of public attention to messages that discredit (even with the help of falsified data) the image of the state, its political, economic, scientific spheres, prominent representatives of the state, and historical facts;
3) the dominance of sensational, scandalous topics in the information space, which cause an aggravation of internal contradictions and tension in society;
4) the presence of messages that threaten the life and health of citizens, promote war, national and religious hostility, change of the constitutional order by force or violation of the territorial integrity of the state, totalitarianism, or Nazism;
5) publication of identical messages of dubious content in several mass media with the same dubious reputation at once;
6) increasing the share of the presence of foreign mass media and mass communication media in the information space of the target state;
7) increasing the number of domestic mass media controlled by foreign citizens or unknown persons;
8) obsessive re-transmission of TV, radio programs, movies, and foreign music.;
9) excessive and unjustified “strengthening” of the mass media personnel, news agencies, and PR agencies by foreign specialists;
10) creating physical obstacles to the functioning of mass media, especially in the border areas of the state;
11) targeted distribution of computer viruses and special programs capable of destroying, damaging, or intercepting information in global and local computer networks.
For example, the process of influencing information on society in social networks occurs according to the following algorithm:
1) highlighting in social networks and focusing on those messages (posts) or pictures (on Instagram, Facebook, etc.) that represent conflictogenic information.
2) identifying and specifying the focus group/target audience. Drawing a matrix of states and vectors of shift/transformation of group activity. Simultaneously with these actions, thematic pools of information are specified, the structure of verification and reliability sources is evaluated, and modifiers are segmented according to the degree of resonance for the correct sequence of “pumping.”.
3) working out patterns of behavioral norms. A list of expected results is constructed, a list of resonance modifiers is selected, a network of verification sources is created, and then a network of resonance control nodes for focus groups is determined.
4) combining information into a stream in accordance with the order of presentation. Information is presented in the direction in which it is convenient to “promote” it in society.
5) finding or creating a reason (provocation) that causes vivid public discontent.
6) launch pools of information that generate previous behavior patterns. Launch trigger pools of information to transform focus groups. The passage of information through nodes is monitored, and, if necessary, correction modifiers are connected.
7) Further, it is possible to bring people to the streets through social networks.
8) Launch modifiers for high-quality template transformation. Control and correction of the vector of formation of activity sources.
Through the management of such flows of appropriately prepared information in social networks, a certain segment of society can be managed.
In fact, the world is developing a society of network structures (network society). At the same time, a network is any medium through which you can transmit, receive, and generally pump the necessary information by activating the network, making it work. A high-quality, properly established (for the aggressor state) network is one that reproduces the “necessary” intended action, inscribed in the overall strategy. That is, the network that broadcasts any information is the main vital artery of society.
Summarizing, we emphasize that a network is an environment through which a certain signal can be passed, which will be perceived, transmitted further, and implemented. Thus, in a networked society, new ideas, other strategic models, and other people's logic are easily perceived, and therefore it can be won.
More details about hybrid warfare as a modern way of warfare, as well as the history of hybrid interstate conflicts and measures to counteract and counteract hybrid aggressions and expansions are in the book - Hybrid Wars (History, Politics, Security).