Revenge of the underdog

The new face of war in the new World


We come across it in the web pages at least some time during your normal working day, we hear it in the FM radio talk shows, and we read it in the newspapers. When we see an odd government site have been hacked by anonymous hackers or when we just feel inconvenient because our odd bank or insurance website is down for some days, we just do not feel that we are part of it. Yet very few of us realize the magnitude of it.

What we do not realize that we are in the middle of a war, a war which is being fought all around us by not using fighter jets or submarines. It is a war where we do not see or feel that this war is being fought, yet all of us are part of it whether we like it or not. This war is called Information warfare and this is the new face of warfare in this new millennium.

There are three main ways in which this war is different from other techniques of warfare. This war is faceless and expressionless in nature. You will not see any formal declaration of war or surrender ceremonies here but you will understand that you have become a part of this war only when you have become a casualty in it.

This war, because of the effects of globalization, can be and will be fought everywhere. Since information warfare involves using computer-based automated systems, this particular warfare will be fought everywhere and anywhere in this millennium since most of our day-to-day works and affairs can be and are conducted through these computer-based automated systems.

The most important factor behind this type of warfare is that it plays directly with the mind of its victim(s) by installing a perception amongst their mindsets. In our modern lives, we are increasingly becoming individualistic and whether we accept it or not some of the gifts of globalization like say our email accounts or our social-networking profiles are small versions of us, they are increasingly becoming a part of our identities. So when someone hacks your email or profile, that anonymous but powerful act gives you a feeling that you have lost a part of you to someone whom you even do not know and yet you cannot do anything about it except just changing your email id or profile.

Another aspect that we need to consider here is that, the anonymous nature of Internet has allowed people to express their views more openly without fear of reprisal. Now when someone sees his or her email id, social network profile or some other information that her considers private and valuable getting compromised, that person will never feel that sense of security which the Internet had provided him or her in the first place.

Not only individuals but even states can feel the effect of this type of warfare. One of the reasons why we accept and obey the rules of our governments is that we know it has means to hold us into account if we do not accept its rules. Now when a group of hackers hack an important government website, they not only take away its information but at the same time they take away its sources of power i.e. its power to enforce its rules. After all, when a government is not able to protect its most important and private information, how can it protect its citizens?

Revenge of the underdog

Information warfare as a technique of war can not only be very useful to its users but at the same time it can bring a lot of empowerment to those who feel themselves in what I call the David v/s Goliath scenarios of modern age.

Suppose there is a resource-rich but militarily weak state which is being on the threshold of invasion and occupation by a militarily-more powerful state and no one is coming to defend the weaker state. Now in the 20-th century warfare, the main choices before the governments included options in the range from abject surrender to guerilla warfare. With the advent of information warfare, the weaker state needs to just pinpoint some of the most vulnerable parts of the enemy’s military and civilian information infrastructure and then get them out of the way by employing its most brightest and brilliant hackers or information warriors. This is the way even a militarily weak state can bring the fear into the ranks of its much powerful enemy.

On an individual level, the new millennium has seen educated youth around the feel themselves hopeless and inconsequential to do something about their societies. The brightest amongst these youth will seek to launch their own version of Information warfare by hacking certain government websites or bringing into the notice of the public certain “classified” information. The rise of groups like wikileaks and anonymous attests to this fact. Personal and professional grudges can also result in serious incidents like a disgruntled employee hacking his company’s website.

The anonymous nature of the Internet is the most serious line of protection for the information warriors particularly the ones who use their forms of information warfare to put a social and political message to the public. The eagle-eyed government surveillance agencies may be able to find out the computers (if they are lucky and very effective) but it will be really difficult to find out exact perpetrators. This fact gives a boost to the present and would-be information warriors.

Unlike the conventional warfare, there is very little that states can do to prevent this type of warfare. A preemptive war may enable to conquer countries, but it can do very little to prevent a group of bright youngsters with computers to use information as a tool of warfare.

Governments around the World need to listen to its opponents both at home and abroad with more care and respect. Dissenting voices and viewpoints must be given the consideration and proper forums to express their grievances. As preventive measures, a must-to-do list should be widely circulated so that innocent victims of information warfare to cope up in the aftermath. Indeed that is probably the only way in the long term to manage information warfare to a certain manageable extent.

But till that time, all of us in this new millennium need to be very careful.