Cybersecurity has become a devastating new tool in modern warfare as societies place a larger importance on including technology in their everyday lives. This could be seen in situations like NotPetya or the Powergrid attacks on Ukraine that resulted in nationwide devastation through destructive malware. These Attacks where linked to the Russian military and show that attacks on nations at this point in time could be done within the convenience of one’s own borders. This means that large scale attacks could be done successfully with low cost and more stealth fully than ever before, so what happens when this is taken to another level?

This article explains the idea of Social Cybersecurity, its origin, and its current threat to national security. The idea is that cybersecurity is boosted by the inclusion of principles from multiple Social Sciences in the form of mathematical models in order to execute social warfare on opposing nations. The biggest proponent in this social warfare revolves around the spread of propaganda through the now decentralized information networks of the current world’s infrastructure. Since news networks and governments have more loose controls over what information spreads, the common citizen can be more easily persuaded by disinformation in an attempt to foster division in a nation. This disinformation is supposed to foster division within a country in order to make them an easier target to physically manage in war. As said above, these attacks are not only proven to be effective however they have the benefits of traditional cybersecurity because it is low cost and has low bar for entry. Also, with tools such as bots, propaganda could be spread through means such as social media without the need for physical human intervention throughout all hours of the day. Cyber literacy is becoming increasingly important as the days go by since this is one of the main factors stated to remedy this threat.

References

Beskow D.M., Carley K.M. (2019, March19) Social Cyber Security An Emerging National Security Requirement. Military Review. https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/Mar-Apr-2019/117-Cybersecurity/b/