Please read the Part 1 here.

What is information warfare?

Wikipedia defines information warfare as “the use and management of information in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent”. This is achieved through propaganda, denial of information and a kind of psychological warfare. According to Dr Carlo Kopp, there are four strategies of information warfare. They are:

1. Degradation or destruction (also denial of information)

2. Corruption(also deception and mimicry)

3. Denial (also disruption and destruction)

4. Denial (also Subversion)

1. Degradation or destruction (also denial of information)

It includes technique of concealment and camouflage or stealth.  It amounts to make the signals sufficiently noise-like, that a receiver cannot discern its presence from that of the noise in the channel. This technique is prevalently used in the stealth bombers of the US air force.

2. Corruption (also deception and mimicry)

It includes the insertion of deliberately misleading information. Corruption involves mimicking a known signal so well, that a receiver cannot distinguish the phoney signal from the real signal. There are many examples of this kind of warfare. This technique involves the jamming of tele signals. Computer viruses, malware, Trojans are also tools for this technique. For example, the Yankie hackers have pasted XXX rated porn messages in all the government websites of China. Introducing computer viruses to cease important information is also one type of deception technique.

3. Denial [also Disruption and Destruction]

It involves the insertion of information which produces a dysfunction inside the opponent’s system; alternately the outright destruction of the receiver subsystem; Denial via disruption or destruction amounts to injecting so much noise into the channel, that the receiver cannot demodulate the signal. This technique is also used in stealth bombers.

4. Denial [also Subversion] 

It involves insertion of information which triggers a self destructive process in the opponent’s target system; Denial via subversion at the simplest level amounts to the diversion of the thread of execution within a Turing machine, which maps on to the functional behaviour of the victim system, i.e. surreptitiously flipping specific bits on the tape, to alter the behaviour of the victim Turing machine. Examples can be introduction of malwares and viruses.

Without going into the details of Dr Carlo Kopp’s analysis it is pertinent to find answer to the question posed by Martin Libicki about the logic of information warfare. The questions are:-

1. Is information warfare (IW) a nascent, perhaps embryonic art or simply the newest version of time-honored feature of warfare?

2.  Is it a new form of conflict that owes its existence to the burgeoning global information infrastructure, or an old one whose origin lies in the wetware of the human brain but has been given new life by the information age?

3.  Is it a unified field or opportunistic assemblage?

  The answers to the above questions determine the basics of IW. IW is not a nascent phenomenon; neither is it an embryonic art form. It is simply the newest form of the age old warfare techniques. Dr Carlo Kopp, equates the four canonical strategy of the information warfare to the age old techniques of “lure”, “repetitive process”, “unintentional mistake” and the “obvious solution”. So information warfare is the involvement of technology to make these strategies of warfare more sophisticated and suave. Secondly, this warfare is not the product of burgeoning global information infrastructure; rather it is the outcome of human brain only. The technology revolution has made the human thought process a new speed and new dimension. Finally, it is obviously a unified field a synergy of different forces and the technocrats and a much maligned community called the software hackers.

Now let’s analyse the use of perception management in information warfare.

Before analysing the detailed steps of use of perception management one needs to understand the fact that perception management is a broader aspect than mere deception. While in deception the information is distorted so that the adversary does not get a total picture of the flow of events due to unnecessary noise. But on the other hand, perception management caters to two needs, first providing a misinformation to the adversaries and secondly providing an accurate and truthful depiction of an event. So perception management is both an offensive and defensive stratagem and is useful in both wartime and peacetime operations.

Perception management in peacetime operations:-

According to CIA, perception is the formation of the world image. Perception formation can be thought of to be made of two sub processes. The first process is the collection of sensory data, and the second one is organizing and analyzing them to form a coherent and compressive whole. So there are chances of error at two stages: First, collection of erroneous data and secondly misinterpreting a correct set of data. In a peacetime operation, the errors are completely eliminated to form a detail and clear picture of the cognitive whole. Then this whole picture is subtly manipulated by one country to influence the decision making process of top officials and other decision makers of the adversary country. It is generally employed to deter a conflict or to gain diplomatic weightage. Knowledge of adversaries’ offensive capability is important in case of a wartime situation but in peacetime operations the psychology of top decision makers, the culture, history and leadership needs to be understood very well. This thing is achieved by suitably using the perception management techniques.

Generally the following steps are followed in case of use of this technique in peacetime operations:

1. Getting the target’s attention

2. Presenting relevant information to hold the target’s attention

3. Portraying the information in such a way that it is consistent with the target’s experience

4. Repeatedly communicating the information to remain congruent

5. Establishing a proper feedback channel to monitor

Getting the target’s attention is very important. For this purpose one goal is set by the initiator country. The goal is chosen in such a way to influence the decision making process in the target country to be favourable to the initiator country. This is basically choosing the goal that initiator wants the target to believe. Next step is providing just adequate information so that the information captures the interest of the target. Next important step is to colour the information. Different cultures have different way of perceiving a thing. If information is provided to the target which is contradictory to the social surrounding of the target country, then the information is most likely to be rejected as rubbish. So information needs to be provided in such a form that, it becomes consistent with the social and cultural setting of the target country. Next important step is to provide the information repeatedly. When the information is provided for a longer time period then there are high chances that it will be accepted. Besides, this builds the consistency of the information. A sudden chunk of information may be discarded; but a piece of information that has been provided for a fairly long time has the high probability of getting accepted. Finally, a proper feedback channel needs to be established to monitor how the process of perception management is working.

In this process certain deceptive maxims are used. They are:-

1. Mc Grudger principle: - according to this principle it is easier to manipulate the pre-existing belief than to provide false information to radically change the belief. What a person reads and what he understands/perceives is dependent on what result he wants to achieve. So his thinking process is uni-linear. According to Mc Grudger principle, the perception or bias he has towards the end results can be suitable modified.

2. Conditioning principle: - According to this principle the information provided needs to be proper conditioned. For example, the speed of the flow of information should be checked. Information should be provided in bits and pieces. The frequency of message delivery needs to streamlined.

3. Utilization of truthful events: - According to the principle, the ambiguity to be reduced to the bare minimum.

4. Feedback mechanism: - A proper feedback system makes the originator/ initiator needs to know how much his information has been successful.

5. Final maxim: - Perception management is designed as a project manner. The goal is set properly, and every step needs to be mapped in perfect manner so that the project not only attains success but also nobody doubts the whole process at anytime.

In a peacetime effort, the perception management influences decision making, public opinion and also foreign policy of the target country. However in a war time situation, perception management basically works as deceptive stratagem to provide misinformation to the enemy and also creating a lot of noise in the digital circuits. However perception management is more important in peacetime situations as it is long term alters the decision making process and foreign policy favourably towards the initiator. Today the world has become so engrossed in information overdose that perception ought to take the form of information warfare only.

But perception management is not all rosy affair of new era warfare. The negatives of it are as dangerous as the positives that it provides. While using the technique of perception management one needs to be clear about the objectives and goals. Because this process is not an end in itself; rather a means to a final goal. If in the process, by any infinitesimal probability the initiator country loses the sight of the target, all the measures become counter-productive.  Secondly, perception management is a double edged sword in the way that, if the information is distorted too much or in too complicated manner it puts the initiator country in a negative standing. And most importantly it is too time taking a business with high level of expenditure. Technological superiority is the minimum requirement to excel in this kind of warfare.

In today’s world the wars have become increasingly changed. Most war is fought and will be fought with keyboard and computer screen i.e. playing with various signals. The dance of nimble fingers on key pads are as dangerous as any assault weapon. Information warfare is the newest mode of battle between the so called super powers. A proper utilization of perception management is useful to change the whole course of war, be it information war or substantive war.