The media, becoming part of human life and changing it radically, led to the emergence of the concept of "information era". She completely changed the method of warfare, providing the command and authorities with a huge amount and unprecedented quality of information received. But it is necessary to distinguish between the war of the information era and the actual information war. In the first case, the data is used to successfully conduct military operations, in the second - the information is considered as a potential weapon, a separate object of confrontation and a profitable target.
Information and technology
On the basis of current events, information appears - their perception and interpretation. This concept, as such, is the result of the interaction of the perception of data and the binding of any value with it. This definition is associated with modern technology, and the speed of data transmission and interpretation depends on it. Therefore, it is required to introduce the concept of an information function. This is absolutely any activity that is associated with the storage, transformation, receipt and transmission of information.
The better information the command possesses, the greater the advantage the party has in comparison with the enemy. Thus, the US Air Force is preparing a flight mission based on weather forecasts and reconnaissance results. The efficiency of the task is increased due to accurate navigation. All of the above are types of information functions that significantly increase the effectiveness of military operations. Military information provides and improves troop resolution of immediate tasks.
Deciphering the term
All countries seek to obtain any information that ensures the fulfillment of certain strategic goals and use the data. This can be done for military, political and economic purposes. Such weapons can protect their own data and reduce the ability of the enemy to fight. So, information war in the modern world can be called any action to use or distort the information of the enemy, to protect their own data. It is this definition that is fundamental to several statements that consider the term in several meanings.
Semantic options
The information war 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 the data that is known to the enemy and to use it effectively. Modern technology has made data very vulnerable to direct access and use. Such a vulnerability is explained by a significant access speed, widespread reach and open data transfer, the ability of information systems to perform functions autonomously, by concentrated data storage. Defense mechanisms can reduce vulnerability.
The term is used in a broad and narrow sense. Broadly, the concept is applicable to refer to the confrontation in the media and the information environment in order to achieve various goals: political, military or economic (in this sense, the term “psychological warfare” is also mentioned). In a narrow sense, the information war in the age of technology is a military confrontation to achieve the advantage of one side in the collection, use and processing of information, reduce the effectiveness of the relevant enemy actions.
History of the phenomenon
World Information Wars - a phenomenon common in the modern high-tech world, but not new. It is believed that the term appeared at the end of World War II and was especially often used in the eighties of the twentieth century in the United States during the Cold War. But even ancient authors described campaigning companies that demoralized and weakened the enemy, and also raised the morale of their comrades.
The concept was recorded in documentary sources during the Crimean War of 1953-1856. Then the English newspapers wrote that the Russians shot Turks floating in the sea after the Sinope battle. 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 will become a guerrilla information war, where there are no differences between military and civilian.
Character traits
Information wars in the modern world are waged between groups that have their own power structures, have different (somewhat mutually exclusive) value systems that include 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.
The confrontation is conducted in the information space, it provides active support for the struggle for economic, military, political and other purposes. At the strategic level, counteraction in the framework of the modern information war 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 opposition potential, subordinating his resources, and ensuring that they can be used in their own interests.
Participants and restrictions
The information war involves both individual communities 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 information warfare. All actions of opponents are limited only by considerations of effectiveness.
Management Methods
Information wars in Europe and the world are waged by various methods. The main ones are throwing in false information or providing available data in a manner that is beneficial to their goals and needs. Such methods make it possible to change the assessment of current events by the local population, demoralize the enemy, and ensure the transition to the leading informational impact.
In addition, there are branches of the information war, for example, psychological, which is largely characterized by the same features. An information-psychological war can be defined as a conflict that arises in the military, political, economic and other spheres of public relations. It touches the foundations of social life, is distinguished by a high striking degree and intensity.
History examples
An example from history: Stepan Razin wrote letters in which he called on everyone to his side, posing as a fighter with the local authorities, who had betrayed the royal surname. With the increase in literacy and the emergence of widespread media in the twentieth century, the conduct of the information war against Russia and other countries has become more effective. A striking 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 means
The entire possible list of means is used: from direct lies, blocking the distribution of notifications undesirable for a certain side, the method of submitting data with true content, to a special interpretation of the information. In bulk, the available data is "cleared" of information that does not meet the interests of the community. Common to all methods and means of conducting information warfare in a modern form is the manipulation of consciousness.
The funds do not include terrorist attacks, economic and diplomatic means of confrontation and influence, physical impact, financing of agents of influence, use of psychoactive drugs. But these methods can be used in parallel, along with the means of information warfare. The object is mass consciousness: both group (of the most important groups) and individual (individuals, whose decisions depend on decisions on the most important issues). The latter usually include the heads of military units, the prime minister and president, the head of the foreign ministry and the defense department, and diplomatic representatives.
Tasks of the Information War
In the modern world, such an impact is aimed at destroying the stability of the community, the integrity of the group, undermining its moral foundations, accepted norms and trust as the main component of social capital, defragmenting, inciting discord and enmity. These goals of the information war can be achieved both against the background of an overabundance of information, and in an informative or social vacuum. Alien goals are being imposed (this differs 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 internal political processes. These processes ended with the restructuring and 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
Nowadays, the concept of “information-psychological operations” is widespread among the US military. It is known that the United States Department of Defense promised to pay contractors in Iraq up to $ 300 billion for the production of political materials, the preparation of entertainment television programs and social advertising, news for Iraqi media to attract local people to support the United States. This information was openly published in newspapers in 2008.
Another example of information warfare is the Arab-Israeli conflict. The parties to the confrontation in their interests used various media and similar resources: television, the press, the Internet, and radio. Actively conducted hacker attacks. For example, the Israeli organization JIDF blocked the sites of the enemy, the Internet community on social networks. Palestinian hackers hacked several thousand Israeli websites (more than 750 only in a day of collision). Arab newspapers and television channels actively used fabricated propaganda videos, which often caused wide resonance in society.
During the Vietnam War, the local government hid losses from U.S. bombing. The Vietnamese made a lot of efforts to convince the population that the bombing did not reach the goal. Official reports indicated that there were no casualties, but domestic animals died. The number of animals in the reports was also clearly regulated.
During the civil war in Angola (February 1988), Cubans shot down a South African bomber. Parts of the aircraft were subsequently passed off as the wreckage of others, which the Cubans claimed were shot down. In Yugoslavia in 1999, local newspapers reported that the country's air defense 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 indicators decreased to 37.
Georgian-Ossetian conflict
The information war in Russia was fought during the conflict in South Ossetia a decade ago. Coverage of events played a significant role, because it influenced public opinion regarding this situation from one side or another. American experts have repeatedly argued that the site of the Georgian president, for example, underwent a lengthy cyber attack by Russia, which led to the server shutting down.
The website of the Georgian government was also attacked. Western media tried to present the world to the country 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 methods of dealing with those used today by the Ukrainian authorities during the conflict in the southeast of the country).