Information warfare is a concept entangling
the battle space use and management of information and communication technology
in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. Information warfare is
the manipulation of information trusted by a prey without the prey’s awareness
so that the prey will make decisions against their stake but in the stake of
the one conducting information warfare.
As a result, it is not clear when information
warfare begins, ends, and how strong or destructive it is. Somewhere, it may
involve the collection of tactical information, assurance that one's
information is valid, spreading propaganda or disinformation to unnerve or
manipulate the enemy and the public, sabotaging the quality of the opposing
force's information, and refusal of information-collection opportunities to
opposing forces. Information warfare is closely linked to psychological
warfare.
Most of the rest of the world uses the much broader term "Information Operations" which, although making use of technology, focuses on the more human-related aspects of information use, including social network analysis, decision analysis, and the human aspects of command and control. The most notable example of Information Warfare is Russian-Ukrainian War.
In 2022 Ukrainian forces have taken advantage
of deficiencies in Russian communications by allowing them to piggyback on
Ukrainian networks, connect, and communicate. Ukrainian forces then eavesdrop
and cut off Russian communications at a crucial part of the conversation.
Information war has been described as "the use of information to achieve our national objectives." According to NATO, "Information war is an operation conducted in order to gain an information advantage over the opponent."
The definition of IW is given in the Cornerstones is:
"Information Warfare is any action to
Deny, Exploit, Corrupt or Destroy the enemy’s information and its functions;
protecting ourselves against those actions and exploit information
functions". ting our own military.
The means for accomplishing Information Attack are given as:
●
Operations Security (OPSEC)
●
Concealment, Cover, and Deception
(CCD) - Subset of OPSEC.
●
Psychological Operations (PSYOPS)
- IW Attack Measure.
●
Destruction (Hard Kill) - Military
tasks than those in IW.
●
Electronic Warfare (EW) - Broad
discipline which overlaps substantially with OPSEC and CCD.
There are many forms in which information warfare can take place:
●
Television, internet, and radio
transmission can be jammed and hijacked for a disinformation campaign.
●
Television, internet, and radio
transmission can be logistics networks can be disabled.
●
Enemy communications networks can
be disabled or parodied, especially online social communities in modern days.
●
Stock exchange transactions can be
vandalized, either with electronic intervention, by leaking sensitive
information, or by placing disinformation.
●
The use of drones and other
surveillance robots or webcams.
The U.S. Air Force has had Information Warfare
Squadrons since the 1980s. In fact, the official mission of the U.S. Air Force
is now "To fly, fight and win in air, space and cyberspace", with the
latter referring to its information warfare role.
As the U.S. Air Force often risks aircraft and aircrews to attack strategic enemy communications targets, remotely disabling such targets using software and other means can provide a safer alternative. In addition, disabling such networks electronically also allows them to be quickly re-enabled after the enemy territory is occupied.
On the IW battlefield, there are only four tasks to be performed:
Data is,
●
Collected
●
Moved
●
Stored
● Used to reduce uncertainty
The four types of Attack Measures possible
against the four IW tasks are:
●
Degrade - Data can be degraded
either by delaying it until its usefulness is reduced or by destroying it in
full or in part.
●
Corrupt - Inserting false data.
●
Deny - Deny completely by a direct
attack on the means of accomplishment.
●
Exploit - To collect against the
adversary’s Movement of Data.
The innovation of more advanced and autonomous
ICTs has engendered a new revolution in military affairs, which encloses
nations' use of ICTs in both cyberspace and the physical battlefield to wage
war against their adversaries.
The three most prevalent revolutions in
military affairs come in the form of cyber-attacks, autonomous robots, and
communication management.
Within the domain of cyberspace, there are two primary weapons: network-centric warfare and C4ISR, which denotes integrated Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance. Furthermore, cyberspace attacks initiated by one nation against another nation have an underlying goal of gaining information superiority over the attacked party, which includes disrupting or denying the victimized party's ability to gather and distribute information.
A real-world occurrence that illustrated the
dangerous potential of cyber-attacks happened in 2007 when a strike from
Israeli forces detonated an alleged nuclear reactor in Syria that was being
constructed via a collaborative effort between Syria and North Korea.
Modern ICTs have also brought advancements to transmission management among military forces. Communication is a vital aspect of the war for any involved party and, through the implementation of new ICTs such as data-enabled devices, military forces are now able to disseminate information faster than ever before.
For example, some troops are now employing the
use of iPhones to upload data and information gathered by drones in the same
area.
Information communication technologies (ICT) are so engrossed in the modern world that a very wide range of technologies is at risk of a cyber-attack. Precisely, civilian technologies can be targeted for cyber-attacks and attacks can even potentially be launched through civilian computers or websites.
As such, it is harder to enforce control of
civilian infrastructures than physical space.
