Information weapon and examples of its application. Information war, information weapon
Information weapons, in the most general form, can be understood as means and methods of conducting information wars, carrying out information terrorism and committing information crimes. The term "weapon" in the concept of information weapons is somewhat different from the concept we are used to, which is usually applied to traditional types of weapons. This term is used rather to refer to the negative impact of means and methods on the interests of the individual, society and the state in the information space, as well as to indicate the destructive orientation of these means and methods in relation to the information and communication structure of the state.
Some researchers compare information weapons with weapons of mass destruction.45 Some consider that information weapons, unlike weapons of mass destruction, are weapons of mass distortion. Unlike weapons of mass destruction, the main purpose and effect of weapons of mass distortion is not to cause mass destruction, but rather to distort information in such a way that the enemy can be suppressed with minimal use of physical force.46
The above difference in understanding the essence of information weapons reflects two aspects information security. The consideration of information weapons as weapons of mass destruction is more related to the second aspect. Indeed, the consequences of the use of negative means and methods of influencing the information and communication structure of the state, especially if many critical structures are highly dependent on their functioning, can lead to truly dramatic consequences, comparable to the consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction. For example, as a result of the impact of malicious programs, the credit and financial system will cease to function, which will certainly lead to a disruption in the normal functioning of the economy. The understanding of information weapons as a weapon of mass distortion reflects the first aspect of information security and is associated with the dissemination of information that harms the interests of the individual, society and the state in the information space, that is, with a psychological or ideological impact.
Thus, information weapons are means and methods used to influence and damage information and communication structures, including critical structures of the state and society, as well as to provide psychological and ideological impact.
Information weapons are of various types. It should immediately be noted that, in our opinion, the main criterion for classifying certain means as information weapons is the method used, namely the information method, and not the object of the weapon. If we use the criterion of the object of influence, then any weapon that is used, for example, to destroy information infrastructure (computers, networks, etc.) can be classified as information weapons. That is, if we use the criterion of the object of influence, an ordinary pistol can be attributed to information weapons, so how can it be used to destroy a computer or, for example, explosives, etc.
The information method of influence is a rather relative concept and is used in this study to focus on the fact that information weapons, firstly, are the result of the development of information and communication technologies and operate in the information space as well as other information and communication tools (for example, computer programs), but only with a negative sign, with a negative effect. Secondly, the information weapon is the actual information arranged in such a way as to have a strong psychological or ideological impact on human consciousness.
Based on the aspects of information security, two types of information weapons can be distinguished:
specially formulated or designed information, which is specifically intended for the psychological or ideological indoctrination of the population, to undermine the moral and ethical foundations of society.
Special information or communication means designed to adversely affect the information or communication infrastructure. The second type of information weapon is a fairly new type, so it is advisable to dwell on it in more detail. Information weapons of this type include the following:
Computer viruses. Computer viruses are programs that attach themselves to ordinary computer applications or gaming programs and carry out actions aimed at disrupting the normal operation of a computer system. Computer viruses are characterized by the ability to independently multiply, spread, activate and function. The following types of computer viruses are known.
A logic bomb is a software virus that is activated at a certain time or after a certain sequence of actions has been performed. These programs typically destroy or overwrite data on all systems to which they have access.
A new generation of viruses - viruses on a genetic basis. Such viruses can self-repair or reproduce in the image of a biological organism. Each successful generation of these viruses can reproduce with increasing complexity and self-immune systems, and with an improved ability to avoid detection and destruction. Sniffers are electronic surveillance programs used, among other things, to monitor communications or commercial transactions, such as transferring money or transmitting passwords for secret information networks. The use of sniffers is the most common way to infiltrate a network. Such a program is installed invisibly and after that it begins to collect valuable information such as passwords, quantitative information and secret information.
Similar to sniffers, Trojan horses are programs embedded in software that is often used by a computer operator. This program stealthily destroys, deletes, corrupts, or steals data.
Computer worms are self-replicating programs that use disk space and memory and can eventually damage a computer system.
A time bomb is a computer program that is designed in such a way that it starts working after certain conditions are met.
The next type is email bombs. A program that infiltrates the system Email and sends itself to the addresses it discovers in address book systems. The most famous example of such a bomb is the spread of the I LOVE YOU virus, which in May 2000 paralyzed tens of millions of computers around the world and caused economic damage of more than $4 billion.
Back doors or hatches - are gaps in programs created specifically to allow an unauthorized user to enter the system. In some cases, rear doors are the result of an unintentional programming error.
Information weapons can also be divided into offensive weapons, which are used to attack or inflict damage, defensive weapons, which are used to defend against attacks, and dual-use weapons. Offensive weapons include the means listed above and, above all, computer viruses. Defensive weapons include encryption, authentication, access control systems, firewalls, antivirus software, system performance checkers, and intrusion trackers. Dual purpose weapons can be used to both facilitate an attack and defend against an attack. Examples of this type of weapon are password crackers, key crackers, sniffer programs, scanners to detect system flaws, etc.47
International legal issues arising in connection with information weapons are very complex. For example, how can one establish a regime of control over these weapons, if it is closely connected with the spread of information technologies, limiting which means depriving many states of the opportunity to develop and become full members of modern society. How to exercise control over the use and distribution of these weapons, and whether it is technically possible, etc. An attempt to answer these and other international legal issues of ensuring the information security of the state will be undertaken in other chapters of this work.
Thus, the development of information technologies and the emergence of new methods and means of influencing the state through its information and communication structures, including the use of information weapons, brings to life a significant number of questions, primarily of an international nature, the answers to which have yet to be formulated.
Information warfare is any action to use, destroy, distort enemy information and its functions; protecting our information against such activities and using our own military information functions. This definition is the basis for the following assertions. Information warfare is any attack against the information function, regardless of the means used. The bombing of automatic telephone exchanges is an operation of information warfare. The same can be said about the failure of the PBX computer software. Information warfare is any action to protect our own information functions, regardless of the means employed. Strengthening and defending the ATS building against bombing is also part of the information war. The same can be said about antivirus program, which protects the PBX software. Information warfare is only a means, not an end goal, just as bombing is a means, not an end. Information warfare can be used as a means of strategic attack or countermeasures. The military has always tried to influence the information required by the enemy for the ineffective management of their forces. This was usually done through maneuvers and distractions. Since these strategies acted on the information received by the enemy indirectly, through perception, they attacked the information of the enemy indirectly. That is, in order for the cunning to be ineffective, the enemy had to do three things: observe the deceitful actions, consider the deception to be true, and act after the deception in accordance with the goals of the deceiver.
Nonetheless, modern facilities performance of information functions made information vulnerable to direct access and manipulation with it. Modern technologies allow the adversary to change or create information without first obtaining the facts and interpreting them. Here is a short list of characteristics of modern information systems leading to the emergence of such a vulnerability: concentrated storage of information, speed of access, ubiquitous transmission of information and great opportunities for information systems to perform their functions autonomously. Protection mechanisms can reduce (but not to zero) this vulnerability.
Components of the information war:
1) psychological operations - the use of information to influence the argumentation of enemy soldiers;
2) electronic warfare - does not allow the enemy to obtain accurate information;
3) disinformation - provides the enemy with false information about our forces and intentions;
4) physical destruction - can be part of an information war if it aims to influence the elements of information systems;
5) security measures - seek to prevent the enemy from learning about our capabilities and intentions;
6) direct information attacks - direct distortion of information without a visible change in the entity in which it is located.
There are three goals of information warfare:
Control the information space so that we can use it while protecting our military information functions from enemy actions (counterinformation);
Use information control to conduct information attacks on the enemy;
Improve the overall effectiveness of the armed forces through the widespread use of military information functions.
Information warfare - actions aimed at achieving information superiority, supporting the national military strategy by influencing the information and information systems of the enemy while ensuring the security and protection of the owner of the information.
Let's define the features of the information war.
1. Object of influence - all types of information and information system.
2. The object of influence can act as a weapon and as an object of protection.
3. The territory and space of warfare are expanding.
4. An information war is waged both when war is declared and in crisis situations.
5. The information war is being waged by both military and civilian structures.
The concept of information warfare:
1) suppression of elements of the infrastructure of state, military control;
2) electronic warfare (electronic magnetic impact);
3) electronic intelligence;
4) hacker war;
5) formation and mass dissemination through information channels of the enemy or global networks of disinformation (biased information to influence the assessment of the intention and orientation of the population and decision makers). It can be carried out by applying the following information impact measures:
Restructuring is the transfer of an event from one zone of perception to another;
Default;
Replication;
Peripheral input of information into use;
Inadequate formatting;
6) obtaining information of interest by intercepting and processing open information.
Ways to protect information on the Internet:
Organizational(administrative) measures aimed at developing and creating an information system, at building a security policy adequate to the requirements of the current moment in time: this group measures account for up to 50 - 60% of all resources spent on information protection. An example of such measures is the development and adoption of information security rules at a particular enterprise.
Physical security measures focused on access control individuals, cars, cargo in a protected area, as well as to counter the means of undercover and technical intelligence. Approximately 15 - 20% of all resources spent on information protection are spent on these measures. The most typical example is the organization of access control at the enterprise.
Technical(sometimes they say "technological, or hardware-software") protection measures are aimed at ensuring security directly at each computer workplace, in local network, on servers, on devices that are part of telecommunications. This group of measures accounts for up to 20 - 25% of all resources spent on information protection. Such measures include the use of various antiviruses, firewalls, etc.
Legislative measures related to the development and implementation of legislative and regulatory acts aimed at preventing unauthorized actions with protected information and protecting the rights of citizens, society, and the state in information sphere. Approximately 5% of all resources spent on information protection are spent on these measures.
Foreign experience shows that the most effective protection against computer crimes is the introduction of the position of a computer security specialist (information security administrator) into the staffing table of organizations or the creation of special services, both private and centralized, based on the specific situation. The presence of such a department (service) in the organization, according to foreign experts, reduces the likelihood of committing computer crimes by half.
In addition, the following organizational measures must be implemented without fail:
1) for all persons having the right of access to official and commercial secrets, categories of access must be determined;
2) administrative responsibility for the safety and authorization of access to information resources is defined;
3) periodic systematic monitoring of the quality of information protection has been established;
4) classification of information according to its importance, differentiation on the basis of this protection measures;
5) organized physical protection of official and commercial secrets.
In addition to organizational and managerial measures, technical measures (hardware, software and complex) can play a significant role in combating computer crimes.
Hardware methods are designed to protect computer technology from undesirable physical influences and closing of possible channels of leakage of confidential information. These include uninterruptible power supplies, equipment shielding devices, cipher locks, and personal identification devices.
Program methods protections are intended for direct protection of information. To protect information during its transmission, various methods of data encryption are usually used. As practice shows, modern encryption methods can quite reliably hide the meaning of the message. For example, in the United States, in accordance with the directive of the Department of the Treasury, since 1984, all public and private organizations were required to implement a procedure for encrypting commercial information using the DES (Data Encryption Standard) system. As a rule, Russian users rightly distrust foreign systems, the hacking of which has become a favorite pastime of hackers and all sorts of "James Bonds". However, Russian government systems can also be unreliable: when a Korean passenger plane was shot down by Soviet fighters over the Sea of Okhotsk, the US government submitted to the UN a transcript of the conversations between our military pilots and tracking stations a week later. But many years have passed since then. Dozens of domestic encryption systems have been developed, certified and actively used. Some of them are cryptographically protected, i.e. theoretically, they cannot be hacked in a reasonable time (less than ten years) even by FAPSI employees and even more so by curious hackers.
Information weapons are a means of destroying, distorting or stealing information arrays, extracting the necessary information from them after overcoming protection systems, limiting, reproducing access to them by custom users, disorganizing work technical devices, putting out of action telecommunication networks and means of high-tech support for the life of society and the state.
The difference between information weapons and conventional means:
1) stealth (possibility of use without visible preparation);
2) scale (application without taking into account geographic and geopolitical boundaries);
3) universality (used by both military and civilian organizations).
Types of information weapons:
1) conventional weapons directed at the target designation of electronic reconnaissance equipment with partial homing in the final sector to destroy information centers, objects;
2) highly intelligent - homing ammunition;
3) radio frequency masking interference;
4) high levels of electromagnetic or ionizing radiation;
5) impact with an impulse high voltage through electrical network;
6) the impact of communication systems on computers;
7) means of generating natural speech of a particular person (voice change).
The damaging properties of information weapons are aimed primarily at humans. It is especially dangerous if the impact is on the human brain (the memory matrix is transformed - artificial amnesia for a certain period). Such changes can be carried out by software bookmarks: speech in speech (acrostic); image in image.
There are five main ways of defeat and destruction of consciousness.
1. The defeat of the neurocerebral substrate, which reduces the level of functioning of consciousness, can occur on the basis of the action of chemicals, prolonged poisoning of air, food, directed radiation exposure.
2. Lowering the level of organization of the information and communication environment on the basis of its disintegration and primitivization, in which consciousness functions and "lives".
3. Occult influence on the organization of consciousness based on the directed transmission of thought forms to the subject of defeat.
4. Special organization and dissemination of images and texts through communication channels that destroy the work of consciousness (it can be conditionally designated as a psychotropic weapon).
5. Destruction of methods and forms of personal identification in relation to fixed communities, leading to a change in the forms of self-determination and to depersonalization.
Information impact is carried out according to the following rules: non-verbal support is required (frequent repetitions, a systematic approach).
Protection from such intrusions into human mental activity:
1) aesthetic filters;
2) protective filters are needed from the disorganization of public information consciousness by replacing value orientations (information wars, the interpretation of freedom through something).
Propaganda of information weapons is actively carried out in the United States, and these propaganda activities are associated with strategic initiatives to create National and Global information infrastructures, since the basis of almost all areas of international and domestic US policy is the idea of this country's leadership in the world. Technological advances in the United States, coupled with a strong and dynamic economy, make it possible to demonstrate the power of the country. Information weapons, based on the most advanced information and telecommunication technologies, contribute to the solution of this problem. The vulnerability of the national information resources of countries that provide their users with work in world networks is a double-edged thing. Information resources are mutually vulnerable. The report of the Joint Security Commission, established by order of the Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA in the United States in June 1993 and completed its work in February 1994, states: "It is already recognized that data networks are becoming the battlefield of the future. Information weapons strategy and tactics for which the strategy and tactics of which have yet to be carefully developed, will be used with "electronic speeds" in defense and attack. Information technology will allow us to resolve geopolitical crises without firing a single shot. Our national security policy and procedures for its implementation should be aimed at protection of our capabilities to wage information wars and to create all necessary conditions for prohibiting states opposing the United States from waging such wars.
It is believed that in order to prevent or neutralize the consequences of the use of information weapons, it is necessary to take the following measures:
Protection of material and technical objects that make up the physical basis of information resources;
Ensuring the normal and uninterrupted functioning of databases and data banks;
Protection of information from unauthorized access, distortion or destruction;
Maintaining the quality of information (timeliness, accuracy, completeness and necessary availability).
The creation of technologies for detecting impacts on information, including in open networks, is a natural defensive reaction to the emergence of new weapons. The economic, scientific and technical policy of connecting the state to the world's open networks should be considered before resolving the issue of national information security. Being open, focused on the observance of the legitimate rights of citizens to information and intellectual property, this policy should provide for the protection of network equipment on the territory of the country from the penetration of hidden elements of information weapons into it. This is especially important today, when mass purchases of foreign information technologies are carried out. It is obvious that without connection to the global information space, the country is expected to fall behind economically. Online access to information and computing resources supported by the Internet makes it possible to overcome international economic and cultural isolation, overcome internal disintegration, and develop social infrastructure. However, it should be borne in mind that Russia's participation in international telecommunications and information exchange systems is impossible without a comprehensive solution to information security problems. The problems of protecting their own information resources in open networks are especially acute for countries that are technologically lagging behind the United States or Western Europe in the field of information and telecommunications technologies. The current state of the Russian economy, the underdevelopment of the information infrastructure, the unpreparedness of Russian users to work effectively in open information exchange networks do not allow the country to fully participate in such networks and use all the possibilities of new technologies. Therefore, active participation of Russia in projects for the development of world information networks, in the work of international organizations, public committees and commissions in this area is necessary. In addition, the principle of gradual entry of Russia into international networks should be observed in accordance with actual needs, economic and technological capabilities.
It is impossible to prohibit the development and use of information weapons. Limiting the efforts of many countries to form a single global information space is also unrealistic. However, Russia can initiate the conclusion of reasonable agreements based on international law and minimizing the threat of using information weapons.
Let us designate practical measures of a programmatic nature to protect against information weapons.
1. Organization of monitoring and forecasting the needs of economic and other structures in various types of information exchange through international networks. It is possible to create a specialized structure to control cross-border exchange, including through the Internet; coordination of measures of state and non-state departments to prevent threats to information security in open networks; organization of international cooperation.
2. Development state program improvement of information technologies that ensure the connection of national and corporate networks to the world's open networks while observing the requirements for the security of information resources.
3. Organization of a system of comprehensive training and advanced training for mass users and information security specialists to work in the world's information networks.
4. Development of national legislation regarding the rules for handling information resources, the regulation of the rights, duties and responsibilities of users of open world networks. Establishment of a list of information that is not subject to transmission over open networks, and ensuring control over compliance with the established status of information. Active participation in the development of international legislation and regulatory support for the functioning of global open networks.
The current level of development of military art is characterized by increased information confrontation. Analysis of modern military-analytical publications shows that at present the means of information warfare are developing most dynamically. This is primarily due to such properties of the infosphere as inexhaustibility and the possibility of filling, the possibility of their rapid copying, moving almost without loss with high speed and degree of reliability, compactness of sources and information carriers.
Information weapons are means of destroying or stealing information arrays, extracting the necessary information from them after overcoming protection systems, restricting or prohibiting access to them by legitimate users, disorganizing the operation of technical means, disabling telecommunications networks, computer systems, all high-tech support for the life of society and functioning of the state.
Information weapons differ from conventional weapons in the following ways:
Stealth - the ability to achieve a goal without visible preparation and declaration of war;
Scale - the ability to cause irreparable harm, not recognizing borders and sovereignty, without limiting space in all spheres of human life;
Universality - the possibility of multiple use of both military and civilian structures of the country of attack against the military and civilian facilities of the country of defeat.
At the same time, in terms of their effectiveness, information weapons are compared with weapons of mass destruction. It has been proven that the armed forces suffer the greatest losses from the impact of damaging elements of information weapons acting on control systems and the human psyche.
If we consider information weapons as a set of means used to attack (copy, distort or destroy) information resources at the stages of their creation, processing, distribution and (or) storage, then in the structure of the infosphere the main objects of influence in information confrontation are:
Communication networks and information - computer networks used by state organizations in the performance of their management functions;
military information infrastructure that solves the problems of command and control;
Information and management structures of banks, transport and industrial enterprises;
Mass media and, first of all, electronic.
For example, over the past 15 years, US spending on the development and acquisition of information warfare has grown 4 times and now ranks first among the costs of all military programs.
The United States annually spends on Information Technology about 38 billion dollars from the federal budget alone, of which about 20 billion dollars (more than 50%) are military department expenses. And this is without taking into account the tens of billions of dollars spent on on-board control systems for satellites, missiles, aircraft, tanks and ships. In 2011 alone, $1.5 billion was allocated to protect national information resources in the United States, while the Pentagon spent $1.1 billion to protect military information systems.
Information weapons can be classified according to the methods of influencing information, information processes and information systems of the enemy. This influence can be physical, informational, software-technical or radio-electronic.
Physical impact can be carried out by using any means of fire damage. However, it would be more correct to refer to the information weapons of physical impact means designed exclusively to influence the elements of the information system: specialized batteries for generating a high-voltage pulse, means for generating an electromagnetic pulse, graphite bombs, biological and chemical means of influencing the element base.
Experiments have shown that simple small-sized generators at a distance of up to 500 m can introduce dangerous distortions into the operation of the instruments of an aircraft taking off or landing, as well as turning off the engines of modern cars equipped with microprocessor technology.
Graphite bombs were used by the US military during the Gulf War and Kosovo. Their impressive effect was achieved by creating a cloud of up to 200 m2 above the object from thin fibers produced on the basis of carbon and possessing superconductivity. When the fibers collided with current-carrying elements (insulators, wires, etc.), a short circuit occurred and the power grids were disabled.
Biological agents are special types of microbes that can destroy electronic circuits and insulating materials used in radio electronics.
Information methods of influence are implemented through the entire set of mass media and global information networks such as the Internet, voice disinformation stations.
Attacking information weapons today can be called:
1. computer viruses that can multiply, infiltrate programs, be transmitted over communication lines and data networks, disable control systems, etc.;
2. logic bombs - software embedded devices that are introduced in advance into the information and control centers of the military or civilian infrastructure, and then on a signal or in set time put them into action;
3. means of suppressing information exchange in telecommunication networks, falsification of information in the channels of state and military control;
4. means of neutralizing test programs; various kinds of errors deliberately introduced by the enemy into the object's software.
Among the most sophisticated ways of using information weapons are covert actions on the software of computer systems (algorithmic and software bookmarks, etc.). Hackers carry out virus attacks on the servers of a potential enemy around the world.
Viruses are malicious software and are often hidden inside or disguised as regular software. Replication takes place on other computers by e-mail or via information disks. The following types of viruses are distinguished: Trojan horses, worms, zombies.
Programs are an important vector of information destruction of the open electronic networks of the enemy and the world's electronic media. One "I love you" virus attack hit 270,000 computers in the US (CIA, State Department, Ford, Pentagon personal computers were hit), with a total damage of 10 billion dollars.
So-called "logic bombs" were planted in the air defense systems purchased by Iraq from one of the Western European countries, as a result of which these systems could not be used during the war in the Persian Gulf zone.
According to the definition given in section 1 of part 3 of the additional protocol of June 8, 1977 "Methods and means of warfare" to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, viruses, logic bombs and other means of special software and mathematical influence on the information resources of the enemy, deliberately created for him destruction, fit the definition of weapons and constitute a special class of means of armed struggle.
An active information weapon is one system complex, combined, beam, targeted and impact use of all forces and means of technical, communicative, informational and psychological impact on the subconscious of the subject of the attack. This weapon destroys intelligence, military information infrastructure, solves the problems of command and control, and at the same time destroys information government communications and civilian systems of the enemy.
The method of implementing active information weapons can be divided into three groups: mathematical algorithmic, software and hardware. The weapon is most effectively used in combination, since it can carry all group characteristics. In terms of use, weapons can be divided into: attacking, defensive and providing.
The enabling weapon is used against the information security of the attacked system. It includes means of overcoming the protection system.
Active information weapons are used to attack information systems and subsystems of terrorist organizations and a potential enemy.
The objects of destruction by active information weapons can be:
The military leadership of a potential enemy;
Political leadership of a potential adversary;
Leaders of terrorist organizations;
World public opinion during special information-psychological operations.
Information and psychological impact is a targeted psychological attack on specific areas of the human psyche, groups of people or public consciousness as a whole. The impact can be carried out by means of informational stimuli using the whole range of methods and forms of technical, visual, sound, medication, physical, pain, virtual suppression of the will.
Informational countermeasures are special complex countermeasures aimed at preemption, prevention, anticipation and protection from the enemy's destructive plans on the mind of a person making managerial decisions.
The dominant goal of information countermeasures operations is to ensure the security of their own information resources. The goal is achieved through the physical protection of objects, covert surveillance, technical equipment, operational camouflage, misinformation in combination with operational combinations, counter-propaganda in combination with electronic warfare.
One of the most effective and innovative means of conducting information warfare is electromagnetic weapons designed to influence information systems. The mass use of these weapons can disrupt the functioning of the information processing infrastructure, paralyze the enemy’s military control systems and vital production facilities, which will significantly reduce its combat readiness and the effectiveness of combat operations.
Any information system can be attacked with the help of wireless technical means of forceful destructive impact. The impact can be carried out using electromagnetic pulses on such elements of the system as wireless and wired communication lines, power supply and grounding systems, directly on electronic elements various blocks.
Power destructive impact is currently a serious weapon against protection systems information objects. Such a weapon lives up to its name of an electromagnetic bomb and, in terms of effectiveness, is more formidable for computer networks than a software destructive effect. To the greatest extent, this applies to powerful mobile technical means that can operate from an unprotected area and at a considerable distance.
The combat use of such weapons in the rocket version has already been recorded during the war in the Persian Gulf and Yugoslavia. At present, the task of not only disabling the equipment, but also blocking its normal functioning is being considered. New technologies contribute to the emergence of effective means of forceful destructive impact, which require more attention, first of all, from the security services and developers of protection systems.
The data cited in various literature and other media indicate the great potential and high effectiveness of information weapons, which must be taken into account when ensuring the protection of information. All the means under consideration relate to military technologies, but history and reality, unfortunately, show that the time intervals between the development of military technology and its widespread use are getting shorter every year. A number of military-analytical publications show that work is now underway to create a bomb that can disable computers, electronics, vehicles, guided missiles and telecommunications. The peculiarity of this bomb will be that it will not cause any harm to a person. The task of the bomb is to disable all computerized and electronic defense equipment.
The normal life of society is entirely determined by the level of development, the quality of functioning and the security of the information environment. Production and management, defense and communications, transport and energy, finance, science and education, mass media - everything depends on the intensity of information exchange, completeness, timeliness, and reliability of information.
It is the information infrastructure of society that is the target of information weapons. But first of all, information weapons are aimed at the armed forces, enterprises of the defense complex, structures responsible for the external and internal security of the state.
The pace of improvement of information weapons exceeds the pace of development of defense technologies. Therefore, the task of neutralizing information weapons, repelling the threat of their use should be considered as one of the priority tasks in ensuring the national security of the state.
A reasonable question arises - how to protect yourself from the threat of using information weapons? The first step is to assess the threat. And here the first word, of course, should belong to intelligence, which should continuously monitor the entire range of problems related to the development of information weapons, methods of their use and preparation for information confrontation of states that have the most advanced information infrastructure. Periodic analysis of the geostrategic situation is also required in terms of the likelihood of an information war. These assessments and analysis can serve as a basis for developing a national concept for countering (neutralizing) the threat of such a war.
Thus, the creation of a single global information space, which is a natural result of the development of world scientific and technical thought and the improvement of computer information technologies, creates prerequisites for the development and use of information weapons. Effective possession of information weapons and means of protection against them is becoming one of the main conditions for ensuring the national security of the state in the 21st century.
information algorithm multimedia task
Prokofiev V.F., doctor of technical sciences, expert of the General StaffI believe it is possible to draw the reader's attention to the rapidly growing improvement of the old, and most importantly, to the emergence of new information psychotechnologies that constitute a real weapon and a danger to the intellect of an individual, and most importantly the people as a whole, its army, law enforcement agencies, governing bodies of power.
Information matters a lot. For centuries, the important role of intelligence services has been known, but the actions of the latter have never been called informational influence. Now the situation in the world has changed dramatically with the advent of the latest methods of conducting information wars, information influences and confrontation between the totality of global information networks, devices and technologies. The main thing is that with the development of psychophysical weapons, there is a real possibility of influencing the psyche and consciousness of a person against his will, the use of these weapons by the armies and law enforcement agencies of states, as well as the potential possibility of these effects by formed criminal structures and oligarchs, aggressive subjects. This is the new reality in terms of national security.
Note that according to the direction of influences, information warfare is divided into two main types: information-technical and information-psychological (psychological).
In the information technology struggle
the main objects of attack and defense are control and communication systems, telecommunication systems, and various radio-electronic means. It was here at the very beginning that the concept of "information weapons" was formed, which became widespread after the completion of the military operation against Iraq in 1991. At that time, the decisive contribution to the defeat of Iraq was made by the integrated use of reconnaissance, control, communications, navigation and electronic warfare, the totality of which and was defined as an information weapon of the theater of war.
It is noteworthy that this conclusion made it possible to formulate the most important provisions of military art: if the First World War singled out fire superiority over the enemy as an obligatory factor in achieving victory in battle, the Second World War - gaining air superiority, then the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, following the results of local wars highlights the obligatory and main attribute of victory in modern combat - the conquest of superiority in the information sphere.
Information warfare on the battlefield is aimed at achieving this goal - information warfare in the theater of military operations. In wartime, it is supposed to be conducted at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. But information weapons must be used even before the start of hostilities, and fully used already during the battles. Even in peacetime, the objects and goals of this struggle are the information resources of the state, which include, first of all, information on material media or existing in any other form.
The special importance of information resources is due to the key position that they, due to the special role of information, as system-forming factor , occupy in relation to any other resources of the state - economic, scientific and technical and military proper. The influence of information resources on military potential is manifested not only in the general trend of introducing the intelligence of military weapons, but also in the emergence of qualitatively new means of armed struggle, developed for a special program-mathematical impact on information systems to protect one's own information resources from a similar impact. Specialists in computer science special program-mathematical influence means means of destroying, distorting or stealing information arrays, extracting the necessary information from them after overcoming protection systems, restricting or prohibiting access to them by legitimate users, disorganizing the operation of technical means, disabling telecommunications networks and computer systems.
The main methods of information influence here are embedded devices "logic bombs", computer viruses, special programs and other means of destruction, suppression, falsification of information and means of protection against them.
In the information-psychological struggle the main objects of attack and defense are the psyche of the personnel of the Armed Forces, the population of the opposing sides, the system of forming public opinion and making decisions.
Such a struggle is being waged by methods and means of information and psychological influence oriented towards the troops and the population on both sides of the "front". At the same time, information-psychological influences are understood as informational in nature impacts on the psyche, primarily on the consciousness of a person and communities of people, manifested in a change in their perception of reality, correction of their behavior and decision-making, and also, in some cases, in changes in the physiological state of the human body.
So, information and psychological influences in the political sphere
are understood as the use of diplomatic, military demonstration, economic, political, informational techniques to directly or indirectly influence the opinion, moods, feelings and, as a result, the behavior of the other side in order to suppress its will, to force it to act under dictation.
Information-psychological methods and means of psychotechnologies are divided into open and hidden, positive and negative and destructive, pursuing explicit and hidden goals. It is quite obvious, and, unfortunately, the reader is already well aware that open psychotechnologies are implemented with the help of honest "clean" methods and deceitful "dirty" methods and techniques.
Information-psychological influences of a latent type are aimed at direct manipulation of a person's consciousness through his subconscious, by using hidden psychotechnologies, when the subject of influence is not aware of the fact of the influence itself. These hidden influences include psychotronic (technogenic) means, as well as suggestive (suggestion, mass hypnosis) and psychotropic (pharmacological) influences, hundreds of types of their combinations and represent the danger of a "non-lethal" weapon of the outcome of the 21st century!
We emphasize that psychophysical influences or influences of a latent type have a hidden violent orientation on the psyche and subconscious of a person with the aim of unconditional modification of consciousness, behavior and health in the direction necessary for the influencing party. The desire to secretly influence directly, through the subconscious of a person, is carried out by modern sophisticated hidden psycho-technologies, including the use of super-weak energy-informational interactions. It should be emphasized that there are sensational and scandalous publications about the impact on the human psyche to solve military-political problems. They sin with the absence of factual data and conclusions from "this can never be!" to "so it's obvious!" The results of serious studies, as a rule, are not published.
It was these circumstances that prompted the author, a professional specialist in the field of military technology, to publish an article in such an authoritative international body as the National Security magazine. As an expert analyst of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, I believe it is possible to draw the reader's attention to the rapidly growing improvement of the old, and most importantly, the emergence of new information psychotechnologies that constitute a real weapon and a danger to the intellect of an individual, and most importantly the people as a whole, its army , law enforcement agencies, governing bodies of power.
Psychophysical weapons - the reality of the XXI century We do not have the opportunity in one article of the International Journal to consistently and logically reveal the ins and outs of manipulation technologies aimed at changing the consciousness of an individual, units and teams, the people as a whole. Until recently, the main object of such influence was the human consciousness. It was considered an indisputable truth that tangible effects can be perceived by our consciousness if and only if they can be critically comprehended by our consciousness, pass through the filter of our operative memory, and only then deposited in the memory storage - in our subconscious, direct access to which is categorically closed.
Subconscious is regarded rather as something mythical, ephemeral, in any case, as something dormant, inactive, incapable of influencing the "sound" thoughts and actions of the individual. The latest research has convincingly proved that our working memory, which forms our "common sense", is only a small part of our "total" memory, which a person possesses. Its main "reserve and storage" is our subconscious. The subconscious contains from 70 to 99 percent of our memory (all knowledge). Hence such a huge interest in the disclosure of the "reserve" capabilities of a person, through a direct impact on his subconscious.
Such "excavations" entail fundamental shifts not only in the subconscious mind of people, but also in changing their ideological positions, in achieving the possibility of creating unprecedented means of enslavement. The desire to influence a person directly, through his subconscious, is expressed in the development of a wide variety of methods that arise on the basis of modern sophisticated hidden psychotechnologies, when the subject of influence is not aware of either the purpose or even the fact of the influence itself. Their fundamental difference from open-type information influences is that they are covert (rather even secretly), i.e. without the knowledge of the subject of influence, they deprive him of the right to independently choose logically sound decisions, the freedom to choose his behavior, the fulfillment of desires, the expression of emotions, and even the psycho-physiological state of the body (mood, health).
This is achieved either by preliminary introduction of the subject of influence into an altered state of consciousness, or by the introduction of manipulating information against the background of distracting messages directly into the subconscious, bypassing the stage of critical perception of it by the human consciousness. At the right time, this information, by a conditioned signal (password) from the subconscious level, pops up in the mind and is perceived by a person as his own thoughts and beliefs. In accordance with the program laid down, the person - the subject of influence organizes his behavior, making decisions.
In the extreme version, this a person as a result of information-psychological influence of a latent type turns into a zombie , which flawlessly carries out the will of its master. A person who has undergone "programming" outwardly behaves like an ordinary person and does not suspect that he is "programmed". It will only respond to a key command given to it at the right time. After completing the task, the person - the "zombie" does not even realize what he did on this command - he was "ordered" by the program to forget this fact.
Several special programs can be put into the subconscious of such a person. An illustration of such programming is the well-known case of the arrest of CIA agent Luis Castillo, accused of assassinating Philippine President Marcos. Before interrogation, the agent was injected with "truth serum" - a psychotropic drug - and had a series of hypnotic sessions. It turned out that this person in different situations felt like four different agents with different "legends", moreover, each of his personalities did not know anything about the others. Apparently, having subjected Castillo's brain to complex processing with the help of psychophysical means, several programs were put into it at once, each representing some kind of task. The new identity was "turned on", probably with a separate code. A hypnotist working with him during interrogations discovered that the arrested person could be on four different levels.
At the first of these, Castillo referred to himself as Antonio Reyes Eloriaga; on the second level, he posed as a CIA agent; in the third rung, he was an agent who failed and was about to commit suicide; at the fourth level, the agent admitted that his name was Manuel Angelo Raires from New York, who had been trained in the CIA special camp, where he studied sabotage. Moreover, at each stage, his physiological state also changed: pulse, respiratory rate, perspiration, his behavior was the behavior of a somnambulist. He constantly looked around, could get up, move, pull the trigger of a pistol, but he did all this unconsciously, like a robot devoid of human consciousness, he did not even feel pain.
Use of psychotropic drugs possibly for military purposes, which allows us to talk about psychotropic weapons that can be used both separately and in combination with other means of influence. In February of this year, simultaneously in several newspapers, reports appeared on the leading work on the psychophysical correction of special forces soldiers. at the Russian Center for Extreme Medicine. The super-soldier of the twenty-first century is this intellectual with 100% physical attributes, adjusted to perform a specific task. After all, real situations during special operations are much more complicated than we can imagine, they require ultra-fine quick solutions. And where the zombies just get stuck, our super-warrior must apply the only correct solution.
It turns out that a fighter is able to achieve such a state as a result of taking a new psychostimulant, dramatically increasing brain activity soldier. The abilities of such a fighter are truly fantastic. The new drug both calms and causes a surge of vivacity and a sense of confidence. A soldier who has undergone a course of psychostimulation is able to withstand one-four in hand-to-hand combat. He can walk eighty kilometers without rest and after that put ten bullets in a row into the apple of the target from three hundred meters. Another drug "is able to prolong the life of a fighter after a wound incompatible with life." A soldier, who according to all the canons is already a corpse, is able to think and complete a military operation, help his comrades and save their lives. Only then will he die. A new cryoprojector, created within the walls of the Center, allows a person to stay in icy water for many hours. The Center has developed original methods for a deep psychophysical examination of soldiers, which make it possible to identify among them people who use drugs, neuropsychiatric disorders, suicidal tendencies, and simply alcoholics.
The press claims that the peacekeeping unit, ahead of the NATO forces on the territory of Kosovo, underwent partial training precisely within the walls of this Center. The military is also trained here, heading to Chechnya to conduct special operations. Separate mention should be made of the so-called genetic agricultural products, the import of which into Russia has been allowed since July 1999. And this despite the fact that studies by Russian, British, Japanese, French and other scientists show that the more a person consumes genetic products, the greater the risk of malignant changes in the composition of the blood, diseases of the nervous system, brain.
In fact, specially grown genetic products are used by exporting countries to Russia as psychotropic weapons of mass use. For example, according to the governor of the Krasnodar Territory, Nikolai Kondratenko, regarding the supply of gene soybeans, the Americans need to investigate how the gene product affects the human body. Why, in this case, is our country being lowered to the level of a laboratory with rabbits? The wide and uncontrolled distribution of gene products in Russia can cause such genetic deviations in the next generations that there will be no one to protect not only the subconscious, but in general!
It is possible to influence the subconsciousness of a person with information signals of various nature and power. The creation of means of hidden influence on the human psyche is linked, first of all, with signals of weak energy, not felt by the target person.. Super-weak energy-information interactions closely correlate with subthreshold perception - with perception processes that are not subjectively realized, but affect human behavior, flowing as if "under the threshold" of consciousness. At one of the levels of sensitivity, conditioned reflexes are developed to unconscious stimuli that lie below the threshold of sensations. Such influences include suggestive influences. Suggestion (suggestibility) is understood as a certain tendency to obey and change behavior not on the basis of reasonable, logical arguments or motives, but only on the basis of a demand or proposal that comes from another inspiring person. At the same time, the subject himself is not aware of such subordination, continuing to consider his mode of action as a consequence of his own initiative or independent choice.
However, there are and are developing methods of influencing human consciousness in the presence of logic, i.e. in a normal state of consciousness, in "sane mind". The influencer and the influencer are both in the ordinary state of consciousness. The influence here is carried out covertly by imposing the "necessary" information on the object against the background of a stream of some other audio and video messages (suggestions). So, the most developed technique of acoustic influence (suggestion) is the presentation of stimuli below the threshold of audibility against the background of louder masking information. This approach is easily detected. Among the most promising methods of influencing audio suggestion are spectral masking and the use of musical information as a carrier of the necessary information. A widely known method of visual suggestion is "pasting" the 25th suggestive frame into the flow of visual information. The essence of the method is that during the demonstration of films, the human eye sees only 24 frames per minute, and what is depicted on the 25th frame is perceived at the subconscious level. It is argued that this can achieve a stunning effect on unsuspecting viewers. This technology is banned in most developed countries, but not in Russia. There is a well-known attempt by the Ekaterinburg TV company ATN to attract viewers with a prohibited reception. The 25th frame was built into one of their programs with the call "Sit and watch only ATN!". TV people were quickly exposed and even revoked their license to broadcast, because this method is also technically easy to trace.
More advanced methods are being developed based on "disparate" presentation, when each frame of video information contains only a part of the suggestive image , not opened by technical methods; the addition of all parts of the suggestive video image occurs at the unconscious level of the subject of influence. The effect of exposure is significantly enhanced with combined use. various types suggestions (suggestions). The most famous and simplest example of such cooperation and influence is the complex use of audio and video suggestion. It has already been proven in practice that the unconscious acoustic suggestion that accompanies visual conscious information can modulate the subject's attitude towards the latter.
For example, when showing a human face, the subjects rated it as an image of a good or bad person, depending on the attitude formed in them with the help of a simultaneously running unconscious acoustic suggestion. In this way, it is possible to modulate the attitude, for example, to one or another television information (light noise during television reception is quite natural). Unconscious video suggestion is used in medicine for the purpose of rehabilitation of military personnel, aimed at restoring the psychomotor, emotional and intellectual potential in the field of official activity, social and personal life. So, if in the first Chechen war, psychological support for soldiers was provided episodically, on an initiative basis, then in the second war it takes place on a planned and regular basis.
In a January report by a radio correspondent who returned from Chechnya, it is stated that in all subdivisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, points have been set up to provide assistance to employees of the department who received mental trauma during the hostilities. A Center for Psychocorrection has been set up in Khankala, and there are similar groups in the regiments (a tent with drinking water, food, a video recorder and a TV). Psychologists from Moscow and Rostov regularly go there. Methods of audio and video correction are used. The course of rehabilitation takes 7-10 days. All personnel underwent a course of psychoanalysis. Of the identified soldiers with psychotrauma, 40-50% were returned to duty after psychocorrection. They eliminated the syndromes of fear, apathy, unwillingness to fight. 10% of the "incorrigible" are to be withdrawn from the battle area, 20% need to be transferred to auxiliary and economic work.
The most complex form of suggestion is neurolinguistic programming (NLP), achieved through a long and painstaking selection of the "key" to the human subconscious. As such a "key" a specially selected text (the so-called neurosemantic hypertext) is used, containing the most significant words and phrases for the suggested (suggested) person, a significant group of people, subdivision, region. The most likely area of application of NLP is the mass media with a focus on a certain well-studied contingent of the population, education, and medicine. The traditional education system, oriented towards a long and monotonous program of “driving knowledge” into the minds of students, is starting to lag behind the rate of renewal of science and technology. Due to the difficulties of his own retraining, a person, as a control element of technological systems, is becoming less and less flexible and ineffective element. Initially prepared to perform a certain basic task, he does not have time to start its implementation, as the production technology (management process, database, etc.) is radically updated. This is one of the reasons why the human element is "washed out" from decision-making systems.
Now this contradiction is being resolved by the ever-accelerating replacement of human elements with "even fresher ones." But only a few specialists have time in one way or another to retrain for a new specialty or update their qualifications. Most are transferred to a less responsible and lower paid position. The main obstacles to retraining are long term and non-guaranteed results. And this means a contradiction between the system's need for fast, by old standards, instant learning-programming for adults and children, and the current artisanal and inefficient methods. Breaking the impasse in rapid human programming using the "Internet" (universal interface) for access to human resources, created on the methods of the so-called neurolinguistic programming.
As NLP classics linguist John Grinder and Richard Bandler point out, "The brain resembled a complex household appliance or a computer that we got without a user manual. With the advent of NLP, we received such instruction. What was previously considered impossible, for example, the rapid learning of new skills and behaviors, interpersonal communications with minimal loss of information becomes accessible and simple. "The memory, consciousness, subconsciousness of any person are considered by NLP as sections of the" map ". The map looks like a loosely structured mixture of data and behavioral programs, which is a personal model of the world that can be easily reprogrammed after a person enters special interface modes.
It is not for nothing that NLP with its possibilities of rapid learning-programming of a person is gaining more and more popularity today. In NLP technology it is very important to preserve and develop the "ecological" component. Environmental friendliness is the consideration of possible undesirable results of human programming and the mandatory modeling of their prevention. It is time to raise the issue of universal psychological security and teach individual means of protection against unauthorized zombies. Every day, through radio and television broadcasts, through newspapers and through direct communication, we are imposed with very specific behavior patterns, programmed for very specific choices and purchases.
All this happens without our consciousness and, of course, against our will. In our concept, environmental friendliness is not only accounting and modeling, but necessarily the whole range of measures aimed at protecting the individual and society from violent programming. This is the most important requirement for the psychophysical safety of a person.
Now directly about psychotropic weapons as the realities of the 21st century. The programming effect of human behavior is achieved with the help of microwave technology, computer technology, generators of "special" radiation, adaptable to effective impact on the subconscious and human physiology. Thus, a huge amount of experimental work on the study of the impact of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on biological objects allows us to state their potent influence, unfortunately, with biological consequences that are not completely clear. Long range and coverage area, a specific mechanism of influence make the method of electromagnetic suggestion very promising and tempting for those who like to play with someone else's psyche.
Extensive searches are being made in the field of creating so-called special radiation generators : torsion, lepton, neutrino, electromagnetic with a longitudinal component, called psychotronic generators. So far, these generators do not have unambiguously determined factors of influence, therefore, at present, searches are underway for the true mechanisms of the functioning of psychotronic technology. The highest achievement of computer technology today - virtual reality . This is a qualitatively new step in suggestion technology. A comprehensive presentation of information allows you to break into the deep layers of the human psyche, replace individual elements of the self-image in the right direction and, ultimately, effectively manipulate the consciousness of a virtual user. The rapid development of computer technology virtual reality poses a threat of the emergence of a man-made drug - stronger and more "flexible" to control the human mind than the currently known drugs.
With the help of computer games in the context of an exciting game plot, it is also possible to solve problems of suggestion with the player fully aware of his actions, transforming the psyche of the playing person in a given program-supported direction. Computer game manufacturers have long understood that it is more profitable to invest money not in well-drawn graphics, but in mental control mechanisms. Computer networks are increasingly entangling our planet. The global network of Internet networks now includes more than 40 million computer subscribers in more than 154 countries of the world. This circumstance cannot be ignored by military specialists when considering various options for possible confrontations. Thus, during the command and staff exercises in 1995, American strategists frankly stated that today the possibilities for effective informational influence on the imaginative thinking of people are sharply increasing, and the United States can actually use the Internet as an important mechanism for any information company.
With regard to the impact of the Network on the subconsciousness of users, we refer to an article published in the LAN MAGAZINE magazine /Russian edition, excerpts from which are presented below/. The notorious subliminal messages are used on the Web with might and main, it is pointless to deny it. The first sign was the rave on virus by the Swiss programmer Julius Furcht, which masqueraded as a buggy postscript viewer. The "program" reported that it could not work with this monitor mode, after which the monitor began to flicker. The flickering frequency of the monitor was chosen so that it acted hypnotically. One frame in every 60 conveyed the subliminal message "rave on! Be happy with acid and pot!".
Subliminal messages evolve. Also used in rock music messages received by reversing a recorded phrase . It has now been proven that the brain of a user who spends a lot of time at the computer subconsciously decodes entire phrases written in hexadecimal notation... With the proliferation of Java applets with their multimedia capabilities, the danger will increase dramatically... The "BrainBlaster" module of the Ecologist program enumerates the possible frequencies of your monitor, determining by microshift the resonant alpha and beta frequencies of your brain, and prohibits the system from tuning to these frequencies. Craftsmen can easily reprogram this module to tune exactly to such frequencies!
A computer virus will not move into the body, but it may well work to suppress the user's immune system. One variant of the Trojan horse program "for listening" to keyboard scan codes is more intelligent. The client part of the "horse" controls the monitor and keyboard, simulating problems in operating system for the sole purpose of capturing the user's reaction. All its responses - keystrokes, mouse movements - are interpreted as control commands and transmitted by the client side to the server, searching and writing to the relational database.
The database is in fact a large bank of temperaments and characters, which you, the user, replenish by poking the first hit keys in annoyance. Analyzing new entries in the database, the program suggests appropriate tactics that are stored in other tables. New, adjusted, provocative, control functions are transferred to the client: for example, error messages appear in the form that most annoys you. You answer, the interactive "horse" supplies the database with new information, the COM port is working with might and main, but you are not up to it, you are struggling with your "buggy" personal computer. Linux students from some Stanford who climbed onto the university SPARCstation roll with laughter. But these are isolated cases. Worse, remote user control programs are becoming available to non-professionals. Tools are coming... So when you use the Netcape Navigator extensions to rotate a VRML image with your mouse, imagine someone else rotating you in the same way.
And neither FAPSI, nor the CIA, no one will protect you and your children. Technogenic means of psychophysical influence are intensively developing, based on the latest achievements of information technology, and in this regard, they pose a rapidly growing threat to society. All the means, methods and techniques of covert action discussed above, integrally called psychophysical influences, constitute the physical essence of psychophysical weapons.
Psychophysical weapons
- this is a combination of all possible methods and means: technotronic, suggestive, psychotropic, complex hidden violent influence on the subconscious of a person in order to modify his consciousness, behavior and physiological state in the direction necessary for the influencing party.
The most dangerous for humans is combined complex type of psychophysical weapon , although the possibilities of combined methods of unconscious influence are far from being explored. Even a simple assessment by the formula of permutations (combinations) of all known methods, means, techniques of unconscious influence suggests that there can be many hundreds of such combinations. And this is only for paired combinations. And if we take into account the possibility of triple, quadruple and completely unexplored options for exposure, then the number of combinations will increase several times. Such a "perspective" opens before scientists a rich field of research, the results of which can lead to the creation of highly effective models of psychophysical weapons.
Introduction
The rapid pace of development of computerization and informatization of society inevitably leads to the creation of a single world information space, in which all means of collecting, accumulating, processing, exchanging and storing information will be accumulated. In Russia, the modern information infrastructure is currently only being formed, and the information systems included in it often do not have access to open communication networks. In this regard, the dangers for Russia's information infrastructure seem to be exaggerated. However, as information technologies are introduced into various spheres of the country's public life, serious problems arise related to ensuring the proper functioning of information infrastructure elements, information security, etc., which have already been encountered in developed Western countries and, primarily in the United States, which have half of the world's information resource.
Modern information technologies penetrate deeper and deeper into many spheres of society. This process is becoming so large-scale that it affects the vital interests of states, especially in the field of information security.
Recently, on the pages of newspapers and magazines, in the speeches of theoretical scientists and practitioners, such concepts as information impact, information war, information weapons are increasingly encountered. Moreover, opinions are being expressed that with the onset of the third millennium, leadership in the world will be determined not so much by the economic potential of the state as by its ability to control information processes.
The purpose of the abstract is to characterize information weapons.
The concept and types of information weapons
Information weapons, according to one of the existing definitions, are a set of software and hardware designed to control the information resources of the target and interfere with the operation of its information systems. Information weapons can be classified according to the methods of influencing information, information processes and information systems of the enemy. This impact can be physical, informational, software-technical or radio-electronic.
Physical impact can be carried out by using any means of fire damage. However, it would be more correct to attribute to information weapons of physical impact means designed exclusively to influence the elements of the information system: anti-radar missiles, specialized batteries for generating a high-voltage pulse, means for generating an electromagnetic pulse, graphite bombs, biological and chemical means of influencing the elementary base.
Information methods of influence are implemented through the entire set of mass media and global information networks such as the Internet, voice disinformation stations. Since the main element of the information infrastructure are people whose motivation is based on their physiological, social and information needs, then the correctly calculated application of the so-called information-psychological methods of influence has a direct impact on the level of state security.
The means of implementing software and hardware methods are computer viruses, logic bombs and hardware bugs, as well as special means of penetrating information networks. These tools are used to collect, change and destroy information stored in databases, as well as to disrupt or slow down the performance of various functions of information and computing systems. Software and hardware can be classified according to the tasks performed with their help into the means of collecting information, the means of distorting and destroying information, and the means of influencing the functioning of information systems. Moreover, some means can be universal and used both to distort (destroy) information, and to influence the functioning of the information systems of the object of influence.
Means of collecting information make it possible to make unauthorized access to computer systems, determine access codes, keys to ciphers or other information about encrypted data, and transfer the received information to interested organizations through exchange channels.
Currently, special software products have been developed, the so-called "knowbots" (Knowbot - Knowledge Robot), which are able to move in the information network from computer to computer and at the same time multiply, creating copies.
Means of distortion and destruction of information include software products "Trojan Horse" ("Trojan Horse"), "Worm" ("Worm"), as well as numerous computer viruses, the number of which exceeds 60 thousand.
"Trojan horse" allows you to carry out hidden unauthorized access to information arrays. It is activated on command and is used to change or destroy information, as well as slow down the execution of various system functions. "Worm" is a foreign file generated inside the information database of the system. It is capable of modifying work files, reducing memory resources, and moving and modifying certain information.
The means of influencing the functioning of information systems include "Logic bombs", "E-mail bombs", etc.
A logic bomb is an instruction that is in an inactive state until a command is received to perform certain actions to change or destroy data, as well as disrupt the performance of information and computing systems. Thus, during the Persian Gulf War, Iraq was unable to use air defense systems purchased from France against multinational forces, since their software contained logic bombs activated with the outbreak of hostilities.
Email bombs are a large volume of unsolicited messages designed to increase the load on a server so that it becomes unavailable or its resources become insufficient for normal operation. This is how the NATO server was blocked in March 1999 for three days. An unknown addressee regularly sent about 2000 telegrams a day to the address of the North Atlantic bloc, which overflowed the electronic "mailbox".
Radio-electronic methods of influence involve the use of means of electronic suppression, electronic intelligence and some others. The main purpose of such weapons is to control the information resources of a potential adversary and to covertly or overtly interfere with the work of its control and communication systems in order to disrupt, disrupt their normal functioning or disable them both in peacetime and in wartime when acting independently or in combination with other means of influencing the enemy.
The main ways and methods of using information weapons can be:
damage to individual physical elements of the information infrastructure (destruction of power networks, interference, use special programs stimulating the decommissioning of hardware, as well as biological and chemical means of destruction of the elemental base);
· Destruction or damage of information, software and technical resources of the enemy, overcoming protection systems, introduction of viruses, software bookmarks and logic bombs;
impact on the software and databases of information systems and management systems in order to distort or modify them;
Threat or carrying out terrorist acts in the information space (disclosure and threat of disclosure or disclosure of confidential information about elements of the national information infrastructure, socially significant and military encryption codes, principles of operation of encryption systems, successful experience in conducting information terrorism, etc.);
· Seizure of media channels in order to spread misinformation, rumors, show of force and communicate their demands;
· destruction and suppression of communication lines, artificial overload of switching nodes;
impact on operators of information and telecommunication systems using multimedia and software tools to enter information into the subconscious or worsen human health;
impact on computer equipment of military equipment and weapons in order to disable them.
