Information warfare (IW) is the

battlespace Battlespace or battle-space is a term used to signify a military strategy which integrates multiple armed forces for the military theater (warfare), theatre of operations, including aerial warfare, air, information warfare, information, ground w ...

use and management of

information and communication technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

(ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. It is different from ''

cyberwarfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyberattack, cyber attacks against an enemy State (polity), state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, ...

'' 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. As a result, it is not clear when information warfare begins, ends, and how strong or destructive it is. Information warfare may involve the

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...

of tactical information, assurance(s) that one's information is valid, spreading of

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

to demoralize or

manipulate Manipulation may refer to: *Manipulation (psychology) - acts intended to influence or control someone in a underhanded or subtle way *Crowd manipulation - use of crowd psychology to direct the behavior of a crowd toward a specific action *Interne ...

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 Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), has been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations ( MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Mi ...

Overview

Information warfare has been described as "the use of information to achieve our national objectives." According to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, "Information war is an operation conducted in order to gain an information advantage over the opponent." Information warfare can take many forms: *

Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

transmission(s) can be jammed to disrupt communications, or hijacked for a

campaign. * Logistics networks can be disabled. * Enemy

communications network A telecommunications network is a group of nodes interconnected by telecommunications links that are used to exchange messages between the nodes. The links may use a variety of technologies based on the methodologies of circuit switching, messag ...

s can be disabled or spoofed, especially online social communities in modern days. *

Stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for ...

transactions can be

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

d, either with electronic intervention, by leaking sensitive information or by placing disinformation. * The use of

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

s and other surveillance robots or webcams. *

Communication management Communications management is the systematic planning, implementing, monitoring, and revision of all the channels of communication within an organization and between organizations. It also includes the organization and dissemination of new commun ...

Synthetic media Synthetic media (also known as AI-generated media, media produced by generative AI, personalized media, personalized content, and colloquially as deepfakes) is a catch-all term for the artificial production, manipulation, and modification of dat ...

* The organized use of social media and other online content-generation platforms can be used to influence public perceptions. The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

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 (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 , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. Also during the Gulf War, Dutch

hackers A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bugs or exploits to break ...

allegedly stole information about U.S. troop movements from

U.S. Defense Department The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...

computers and tried to sell it to the Iraqis, who thought it was a hoax and turned it down. In January 1999, U.S. Air Intelligence computers were hit by a coordinated attack (

Moonlight Maze Moonlight Maze was a data breach of classified U.S. government information lasting from 1996 to 1998. It represents one of the first widely known cyber espionage campaigns in world history. It was even classified as an Advanced Persistent Threat ...

), 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. (journal name added 31 May 2024) Some militaries are now employing the use of

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

s to upload data and information gathered by drones in the same area.

Notable examples

Chinese information warfare

Russo-Ukrainian War

In 2022, the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

took 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. To build support before it invaded Ukraine,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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 Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google ...

Russian interference in foreign elections

Russian interference in foreign elections, most notably the

Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections The Russian government conducted Foreign electoral intervention, foreign electoral interference in the 2016 United States elections with the goals of sabotaging the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign, presidential campaign of Hillar ...

, has been described as information warfare. According to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, Russia also interfered in the 2024 US presidential elections. NBC also reported Russia conducting disinformation campaigns in the 2024 US elections against then US president,

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

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. Russia has sought to promote the idea that the American democratic state is failing.

Russia, China and pro-Palestinian protests

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' reported in 2024 that China and Russia were promoting

pro-Palestinian Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people that espouses self-determination and sovereignty over the region of Palestine The region of Palestine, also known as historic Palestine, is a geographical ar ...

influencers A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

in order to manipulate British public opinion in favor of Russian and Chinese interests. 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. Russian media activity increased by 400% in the weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

United States COVID-19 disinformation campaign

According to a report by

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

, the United States ran a

campaign to spread disinformation about the

Sinovac Sinovac Biotech Ltd. () is a Chinese biopharmaceutical company based in Haidian District, Beijing that focuses on the research, development, manufacture, and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. The com ...

Chinese

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

vaccine, including using fake social media accounts to spread the disinformation that the Sinovac vaccine contained pork-derived ingredients and was therefore ''

haram ''Haram'' (; ) is an Arabic term meaning 'taboo'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowledge; or, in direct cont ...

'' under

Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

. The campaign was described as "payback" for COVID-19 disinformation by China directed against the U.S. The campaign ran from 2020 to mid-2021, primarily targeting people in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and used a social media

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

for "China is the virus" in

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

. The primary contractor for the U.S. military on the project was General Dynamics IT, which received $493 million for its role.

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 The just war theory () is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of #Criteria, criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. I ...

. 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 organization In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

s, to make these attacks more frequently than they could with traditional war. #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. Recently, legal concerns have arisen centered on these issues, specifically the issue of the

right to privacy The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 185 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. Since the globa ...

in the United States of America. Lt. General Keith B. Alexander, who served as the head of Cyber Command under President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, 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 The Committee on Armed Services, sometimes abbreviated SASC for Senate Armed Services Committee, is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defen ...

. 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.

Notes

References

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) (). * John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt
''In Athena's Camp''

RAND The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

(1997). * Dorothy Denning, ''Information Warfare and Security'', Addison-Wesley (1998) (). * James Adams, ''The Next World War: Computers are the Weapons and the Front line is Everywhere'', Simon and Schuster (1998) (). * Edward Waltz, ''Information Warfare Principles and Operations'', Artech House, 1998, * John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt
''Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy''

(2001) (). * Ishmael Jones, ''The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture'', Encounter Books, New York (2010) (). Information/intelligence warfare. * Gregory J. Rattray, ''Strategic Warfare in Cyberspace'', MIT Press (2001) (). * Anthony H. Cordesman, Cyber-threats, Information Warfare, and Critical Infrastructure Protection: DEFENDING THE US HOMELAND (2002) (). * Leigh Armistead, ''Information Operations: The Hard Reality of Soft Power,'' Joint Forces Staff College and the National Security Agency (2004) (). * Thomas Rid, ''War and Media Operations: The US Military and the Press from Vietnam to Iraq'', Routledge (2007) ().

Other

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

External links

Resources

Hacktivism and Politically Motivated Computer Crime
(PDF)
Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center
, Air University, U.S. Air Force.
IWS - The Information Warfare Site

Information Warfare Monitor - Tracking Cyberpower (University of Toronto, Canada/Munk Centre)

Twitter: InfowarMonitor

* Association of Old Crows http://www.crows.org The Electronic Warfare and Information Operations Association.
C4I.org - Computer Security & Intelligence

Air Power Australia.
Committee on Policy Consequences and Legal/Ethical Implications of Offensive Information Warfare
, The National Academies.
Program on Information and Warfare
Global Information Society Project, World Policy Institute.
Information Warriors
Information Warriors is web forum dedicated to the discussion of Navy Information Warfare.
Mastermind Corporation Information Warfare Tactics Analysis
(PDF)

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).

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.)

Aerospace Power Chronicles (1999). * Dr Carlo Kopp

(February 2000).

, Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center, Air War College, Air University, U.S. Air Force. * Lachlan Brumley et al.

(October 2012). * * * 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 . * Taddeo, Mariarosaria (2012). Information Warfare: A Philosophical Perspective. Philosophy and Technology 25 (1):105-120.

Papers: Other

An essay on Information Operations by Zachary P. HubbardAlso Here
(Doc file) fro

- working link added 31 May 2024)

News articles

''Army, Air Force seek to go on offensive in cyber war''
GovExec.com (June 13, 2007).
''NATO says urgent need to tackle cyber attack''
Reuters (June 14, 2007).
''America prepares for 'cyber war' with China''
Telegraph.uk.co (June 15, 2007).
''NATO, US gear up for cyberpunk warfare''
The Register (June 15, 2007).

United States Department of Defense IO Doctrine

Operations Security (JP 3-13.3)
(PDF)
Military Deception (JP 3-13.4)
(PDF)

Destabilizing Terrorist Networks: Disrupting and Manipulating Information Flows in the Global War on Terrorism
Yale Information Society Project Conference Paper (2005).
Seeking Symmetry in Fourth Generation Warfare: Information Operations in the War of Ideas
Presentation (PDF slides) to the Bantle - Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT) Symposium, Syracuse University (2006). * K. A. Taipale
''Seeking Symmetry on the Information Front: Confronting Global Jihad on the Internet''
16 National Strategy F. Rev. 14 (Summer 2007). {{Authority control * Propaganda in the United States Propaganda techniques using information Psychological warfare techniques 21st-century conflicts Disinformation