Definition and main types of information warfare
Information warfare is the open or hidden purposeful information effects of systems on each other in order to obtain a certain gain in the material, military, political or ideological spheres.
For the first time, the term "information warfare" appeared in the United States in the mid-70s of the twentieth century, its appearance was due to a leap in the development of computer technologies and communications. Information weapons are no less dangerous than traditional weapons. Information warfare can be both an independent type of confrontation (without armed conflict) and an addition to traditional military operations.
Depending on the scale, information wars are divided
into personal,
corporate,
and global ones.
Personal information wars are most often associated with the violation of personal information integrity. Corporate information wars arise as a result of competition between corporations and are aimed at obtaining information about the activities of a competitor or its elimination. During a global information war, the enemy's information resources are damaged while protecting their own at the state level. In the global information war, three main directions of warfare can be distinguished:
the impact on individual, group and mass consciousness using the media;
impact on decision-making systems in the political, economic, military, scientific, technical, and social spheres;
impact on information systems in order to manage, block, and remove processed information.
Let's consider the differences between traditional and informational interstate wars. If we schematically imagine the state in the form of a pyramid, at the top of which is the apparatus of state power, the base is made up of resources (material, human, energy), and society (society) is located between them, then the difference between information and traditional warfare can be illustrated.
It is believed that the purpose of the war is to obtain resources. When conducting a traditional war, the superstructure of the defeated state is destroyed, part of the resources are lost; some damage is also inflicted on the victorious state. The consequences of a traditional war in the modern world may be unacceptable to the winner (for example, in the case of a nuclear conflict). In an information war, there is no obvious boundary of confrontation (front), however, as a result of a successful information war, all levels, including power, resources, and territory, fall under the control of the winner.
According to the direction of the effects, information warfare is divided into two main types:
information technology,
information and psychological.
They differ in the objects of protection and impact.
The main objects of the impact of information and psychological warfare
are the human psyche,
the system of political decision-making,
the system of public consciousness,
the system of public opinion formation.
The main objects of the impact of information technology warfare:
electronic warfare,
communication lines and telecommunications.
There are four areas of information warfare:
1. Political.
This area includes:
the struggle for the noosphere. The objects of this battle are state ideas, spiritual and national values, religious systems, i.e. the spiritual sphere of human life;
intellectual struggle of the elites (innovation, reflexive management). Research shows that the impact on the information resource of the state can become one of the sources of threats to national security.
The most difficult form of influence is the reflexive management of the decision-making process in government structures through the formation of information or disinformation beneficial to the influencer.
information warfare in the course of electoral processes.
2. Financial and economic.
Currently, the global financial system has become the main arena of information and psychological confrontation between the leading states of the world. One of the theorists and practitioners of information and psychological warfare in the financial sphere is D. Soros. The first information and psychological battle in the financial sphere between the leading countries of the world can be considered the global financial crises of 1997-1998. In the future, information wars will mainly be waged in the financial sphere, not in the military sphere. In the context of the creation of a single global information space, a geostrategic confrontation will unfold between the leading world powers for dominance in the information environment of the global financial system.
In order to become an economically prosperous power, Russia must learn how to protect its national interests in the global information environment and counteract the information expansion of other countries in the global financial system.
3. Diplomatic.
4. Military.
The confrontation on the Internet can be singled out separately.
The information revolution has contributed to the emergence of new forms and methods of conducting information and psychological warfare in the global information space. This is largely due to the creation of the Internet, this trend must be taken into account when developing the theory of information and psychological support for Russia's national security.
