Cyber security in the traditional sense has always been described as primarily technical in nature. This course has discussed how this is not the case, with human behaviors and social aspects having an outsized role in cyber security effectiveness. One article in particular that reinforces this fact comes from the Army University Press, titled “Social Cybersecurity, An Emerging National Security Requirement”. In regards to blue team operations militarily, the emphasis was on the defense of technical assets. Recently, there has been a shift in cybersecurity attacks, from technical data deletion, destruction, or exfiltration to social programming and subversion. The authors discuss many cases, such as with the arab spring, social media was able to not only influence preceding events, assist in coordinating the masses. Authors pull from Russian perspective on information war, relaying to the reader that the goal is the demoralization and depression of one’s enemy army and populace, whilst invigorating their own. On top of all this, there are notable benefits to online information war, such as decentralization and no need for a physical presence. Both of these elements work hand in hand. Decentralization results in no main, centralized source to attack or counter, with multiple people potentially posting the same rhetoric. (They talk about bots being an issue later on in the article) This is accentuated by no requirement to be in person to commit a social cyber attack, as there will be no name, and by extension no one to hold accountable for fraudulent statements. The article concludes by discussing exact models of online disruption and mentions how bots can amplify hostile messages or information war campaigns.

Beskow, David, and Kathleen Carley. “Social Cybersecurity an Emerging National Security Requirement.” Army University Press, Army University Press, 2019, www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/Mar-Apr-2019/117-Cybersecurity/b/.