Information warfare

Information warfare (IW) is the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. It is different from cyberwarfare that attacks computers, software, and command control systems. Information warfare is the manipulation of information trusted by a target without the target's awareness so that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting information warfare.<ref>Glenn. Jerome C. Global Challenge 10, State of the Future 19.1, The Millennium Project, Washington, DC 2018</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As a result, it is not clear when information warfare begins, ends, and how strong or destructive it is.<ref>Glenn. Jerome. Chapter 9 Defense, Future Mind, Acropolis Books, Washington, DC 1989</ref>

Information warfare may involve the collection of tactical information, assurance(s) that one's information is valid, spreading of propaganda or disinformation to demoralize or manipulate<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the enemy and the public, undermining the quality of the opposing force's information, and denial of information-collection opportunities to opposing forces. Information warfare is closely linked to psychological warfare.<ref>Template:Cite journal (DOI Free Access added 31 May 2024)</ref>

Overview

Information warfare has been described as "the use of information to achieve our national objectives."<ref name="Stein1995">Template:Cite web</ref> According to NATO, "Information war is an operation conducted in order to gain an information advantage over the opponent."<ref name="NatoDef">Template:Cite web</ref>

Information warfare can take many forms:

Television, internet and radio transmission(s) can be jammed to disrupt communications, or hijacked for a disinformation campaign.
Logistics networks can be disabled.
Enemy communications networks can be disabled or spoofed, especially online social communities in modern days.
Stock exchange transactions can be sabotaged, either with electronic intervention, by leaking sensitive information or by placing disinformation.
The use of drones and other surveillance robots or webcams.
Communication management
Synthetic media
The organized use of social media and other online content-generation platforms can be used to influence public perceptions.<ref>Template:Cite book (PDF format)</ref>

The United States 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",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 (instead of explosively) also allows them to be quickly re-enabled after the enemy territory is occupied. Similarly, counter-information warfare units are employed to deny such capability to the enemy. The first application of these techniques was used against Iraqi communications networks in the Gulf War.

Also during the Gulf War, Dutch hackers allegedly stole information about U.S. troop movements from U.S. Defense Department computers and tried to sell it to the Iraqis, who thought it was a hoax and turned it down.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In January 1999, U.S. Air Intelligence computers were hit by a coordinated attack (Moonlight Maze), part of which came from a Russian mainframe. This could not be confirmed as a Russian cyber attack due to non-attribution – the principle that online identity may not serve as proof of real-world identity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="mariarosariataddeo">Template:Cite journal (journal name added 31 May 2024)</ref>

Some militaries are now employing the use of iPhones to upload data and information gathered by drones in the same area.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Notable examples

File:Pro-Russian bot farm in Ukraine (2022).jpg

An office used by Russian web brigades captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Chinese information warfare

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Russo-Ukrainian War

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In 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine 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.Template:Efn

To build support before it invaded Ukraine, Russia perpetuated a narrative that claimed the Ukrainian government was committing violence against its own Russian speaking population. By publishing large amounts of disinformation on the internet, the alternate narrative was picked up in search results, such as Google News.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Russian interference in foreign elections

Russian interference in foreign elections, most notably the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, has been described as information warfare.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Russia has also begun to interfere in the 2024 US presidential elections according to Microsoft.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to NBC, Russia is conducting disinformation campaigns in the 2024 US elections against US president, Joe Biden.<ref name=":0" />

Russia vs West

Research suggests that Russia and the West are also engaged in an information war. For instance, Russia believes that the West is undermining its leader through the encouragement of overthrowing authoritarian regimes and liberal values. In response, Russia promotes the anti-liberal sentiments, including racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and misogyny.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":0" /> Russia has sought to promote the idea that the American democratic state is failing.<ref name=":0" />

Russia, China and pro-Palestinian protests

The Telegraph reported in 2024 that China and Russia were promoting pro-Palestinian influencers in order to manipulate British public opinion in favor of Russian and Chinese interests.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> NBC reported that Russia was using different tools to cause division within the US, by delegitimizing US police operations against Pro Palestinian protests and by pivoting public conversation from the Russian invasion in Ukraine to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Russian media activity increased by 400% in the weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.<ref name=":0" />

United States COVID-19 disinformation campaign

According to a report by Reuters, the United States ran a propaganda campaign to spread disinformation about the Sinovac Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, including using fake social media accounts to spread the disinformation that the Sinovac vaccine contained pork-derived ingredients and was therefore haram under Islamic law.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite news</ref> The campaign was described as "payback" for COVID-19 disinformation by China directed against the U.S.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The campaign primarily targeted people in the Philippines and used a social media hashtag for "China is the virus" in Tagalog.<ref name=":6" /> The campaign ran from 2020 to mid-2021.<ref name=":6" /> The primary contractor for the U.S. military on the project was General Dynamics IT, which received $493 million for its role.<ref name=":6" />

Legal and ethical concerns

While information warfare has yielded many advances in the types of attack that a government can make, it has also raised concerns about the moral and legal ambiguities surrounding this particularly new form of war. Traditionally, wars have been analyzed by moral scholars according to just war theory. However, with Information Warfare, Just War Theory fails because the theory is based on the traditional conception of war. Information Warfare has three main issues surrounding it compared to traditional warfare:

The risk for the party or nation initiating the cyberattack is substantially lower than the risk for a party or nation initiating a traditional attack. This makes it easier for governments, as well as potential terrorist or criminal organizations, to make these attacks more frequently than they could with traditional war.<ref>Template:Cite journal Template:Open access</ref>
Information communication technologies (ICT) are so immersed in the modern world that a very wide range of technologies are at risk of a cyberattack. Specifically, civilian technologies can be targeted for cyberattacks and attacks can even potentially be launched through civilian computers or websites. As such, it is harder to enforce control of civilian infrastructures than a physical space. Attempting to do so would also raise many ethical concerns about the right to privacy, making defending against such attacks even tougher.
The mass-integration of ICT into our system of war makes it much harder to assess accountability for situations that may arise when using robotic and/or cyber attacks. For robotic weapons and automated systems, it's becoming increasingly hard to determine who is responsible for any particular event that happens. This issue is exacerbated in the case of cyberattacks, as sometimes it is virtually impossible to trace who initiated the attack in the first place.<ref name="mariarosariataddeo"/>

Recently, legal concerns have arisen centered on these issues, specifically the issue of the right to privacy in the United States of America. Lt. General Keith B. Alexander, who served as the head of Cyber Command under President Barack Obama, noted that there was a "mismatch between our technical capabilities to conduct operations and the governing laws and policies" when writing to the Senate Armed Services Committee. A key point of concern was the targeting of civilian institutions for cyberattacks, to which the general promised to try to maintain a mindset similar to that of traditional war, in which they will seek to limit the impact on civilians.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notes

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References

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Bibliography

Books

Jerome Clayton Glenn, "Future Mind" Chapter 9. Defense p. 195-201. Acropolis Books LTD, Washington, DC (1989)
Winn Schwartau, "Information Warfare: Chaos on the Electronic Superhighway" Thunder's Mouth Press (1993)
Winn Schwartau, ed, Information Warfare: Cyberterrorism: Protecting your personal security in the electronic age, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2nd ed, (1996) (Template:ISBN).
John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, In Athena's Camp, RAND (1997).
Dorothy Denning, Information Warfare and Security, Addison-Wesley (1998) (Template:ISBN).
James Adams, The Next World War: Computers are the Weapons and the Front line is Everywhere, Simon and Schuster (1998) (Template:ISBN).
Edward Waltz, Information Warfare Principles and Operations, Artech House, 1998, Template:ISBN
John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy, RAND (2001) (Template:ISBN).
Ishmael Jones, The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture, Encounter Books, New York (2010) (Template:ISBN). Information/intelligence warfare.
Gregory J. Rattray, Strategic Warfare in Cyberspace, MIT Press (2001) (Template:ISBN).
Anthony H. Cordesman, Cyber-threats, Information Warfare, and Critical Infrastructure Protection: DEFENDING THE US HOMELAND (2002) (Template:ISBN).
Leigh Armistead, Information Operations: The Hard Reality of Soft Power, Joint Forces Staff College and the National Security Agency (2004) (Template:ISBN).
Thomas Rid, War and Media Operations: The US Military and the Press from Vietnam to Iraq, Routledge (2007) (Template:ISBN).

Other

Science at War: Information Warfare, The History Channel (1998).

External links

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Resources

Hacktivism and Politically Motivated Computer Crime (PDF)
Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center Template:Webarchive, Air University, U.S. Air Force.
IWS - The Information Warfare Site
Information Warfare Monitor - Tracking Cyberpower (University of Toronto, Canada/Munk Centre)
Twitter: InfowarMonitor
Information Warfare, I-War, IW, C4I, Cyberwar
Federation of American Scientists - IW Resources Template:Webarchive
Association of Old Crows http://www.crows.org The Electronic Warfare and Information Operations Association.
C4I.org - Computer Security & Intelligence
Information Warfare, Information Operations and Electronic Attack Capabilities Air Power Australia.
Committee on Policy Consequences and Legal/Ethical Implications of Offensive Information Warfare Template:Webarchive, The National Academies.
Program on Information and Warfare, Global Information Society Project, World Policy Institute.
Information Warriors Template:Webarchive Information Warriors is web forum dedicated to the discussion of Navy Information Warfare.
Mastermind Corporation Information Warfare Tactics Analysis (PDF)
Information Warfare in Biology Nature's Exploitation of Information to Win Survival Contests, Monash University, Computer Science.

Course syllabi

COSC 511 Information Warfare: Terrorism, Crime, and National Security @ Department of Computer Science, Georgetown University (1997–2002) (Dorothy Denning).
CSE468 Information Conflict (Honours) @ School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Monash University (2006) (Carlo Kopp).
Information Warfare, Cyberterrorism, and Hacktivism from Cybercrime, Cyberterrorism and Digital Law Enforcement, New York Law School.

Papers: research and theory

Col Andrew Borden, USAF (Ret.), What is Information Warfare? Aerospace Power Chronicles (1999).
Dr Carlo Kopp, A Fundamental Paradigm of Infowar (February 2000).
Research & Theory Links Template:Webarchive, Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center, Air War College, Air University, U.S. Air Force.
Lachlan Brumley et al., Cutting Through the Tangled Web: An Information-Theoretic Perspective on Information Warfare (October 2012).
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Michael MacDonald (2012) "Black Logos: Rhetoric and Information Warfare", pages 189–220 in Literature, Rhetoric and Values: Selected Proceedings of a Conference held at University of Waterloo, 3–5 June 2011, editors Shelley Hulan, Murray McArthur and Randy Allen Harris, Cambridge Scholars Publishing Template:ISBN .
Taddeo, Mariarosaria (2012). Information Warfare: A Philosophical Perspective. Philosophy and Technology 25 (1):105-120.