Strategy

The Geopolitics of Disinformation in a Continued Cold War: A Study of Russia’s Cyber Information Operations Strategy (2022-2023)

Abstract:

This study seeks to explore patterns in Russia’s disinformation operations strategy during the war in Ukraine and discuss them in the context of its geopolitical interests across the world. The data for this research spans from the beginning of the invasion in February 2022 to July 2023 and is collected from the EUvsDisinfo database in the form of articles where disinformation was discovered (N=1906).

Desperately Seeking Strategic Alignment: Australia’s Response to the Informatic Environment as a Global Security Disruptor

Abstract:

Since the end of the Cold War, Australia has experienced strategic misalignment between government defence policy, military deployment to wars of choice, and slow adaptation to major power security challenges. This situation has been underscored by the geopolitical realities of an increasingly assertive People’s Republic of China as well as the Russian Federation’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. This ‘strategic disconnect’ has resulted in the Australian government dealing with the risks from of a resultant, much-reduced strategic warning time. The challenge for the state is its rapid readying for possible military participation alongside the United States in a major power war. Strategic assessments are now addressing involvement in a war that will be characterised by multi-domain, kinetic warfighting. In the period preceding and during any such major power confrontation will be the increased significance of Information Operations (IO) as an important non-kinetic element in ‘the management of war’. Malicious state actors and authoritarian powers will increasingly deploy non-kinetic disruptive technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and deepfakes, to drive global disruptors, such as the informatic environment. This will expose any strategic misalignment that remains between Australia’s strategic approaches and its security threats.

Published In

Volume 22, Issue 4

Written By

Gavin Briggs

Keywords

Informatic Environment

Information Operations

Misinformation/Disinformation

Strategic Disconnect

Strategy

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Strategic Cognition War

Abstract:

Whilst the major strategic objectives of war have not changed for centuries, this paper posits that the physical aspects of them—such as resources, territory and influence, or coercion of populations—have been superseded by the control of social cognition in the target. This paper examines the development of Information War to a deeper level. The ‘Information Age’, spurred on by technological advances in persuasive and cognitive control, has led to strategic aims becoming the control of cognitive processes in the target’s population, where the target can be a domestic population as well as a foreign one. Also, this paper has been expanded to include systems controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and networks.

Published In

Volume 21, Issue 3

Written By

William (Bill) Hutchinson

Keywords

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National Cybersecurity Implementation in South Africa: The Conundrum Question

Abstract:

The key to a nation’s success is the development of workable strategies, security strategies, and especially a cybersecurity strategy. A problem identified, which this paper addresses, is that there is no visible National Cybersecurity Strategy for South Africa. In contributing to the resolution of this problem, an analysis of the implications of not having a National Cybersecurity Strategy in South Africa is presented in this paper. A combination of the process-based research framework, content analysis, and a subset of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework that we label ‘Prevent, Detect, Respond, and Recover’ (PDR2) are used to perform the analysis.

Published In

Volume 21, Issue 1

Written By

Jackie Phahlamohlaka

Jacques Théron

Michael (Mike) J. Aschmann

Keywords

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Persistent Engagement and the Private Sector

Abstract:

The concepts of ‘persistent engagement’ and ‘defend forward’ signify a shift in how the U.S. employs its military cyber capabilities. These new concepts reorient U.S. Cyber Command from a reactive response force to a proactive force with continuous engagement that operates outside U.S. military networks to discover and expose adversary activity as well as to execute actions before they harm U.S. national interests. Persistent engagement can form the basis for a whole-of-nation cyber strategy if the private sector is a central player, rather than an afterthought.

Published In

Volume 20, Issue 2

Written By

Emily Goldman

Eduardo Monarez

Keywords

Persistent Engagement

Cyber

Strategy

Private Sector

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Cyber Macht: Laying the Groundwork for a New Comprehensive Academic Theory

ABSTRACT

The authors outline a comprehensive academic theory on Cyber Macht (Cyber Power) that updates Soft Power or Noopolitik and includes elements of Information Operations (IO) and the practical aspects of diplomacy and warfare. Centered on communication paths and changes in connectivity and focused around the theme that power is now globally distributed because of huge increases in 1) access to information for people around the world and 2)their ability to influence events far beyond previous ranges, this theory references power and influence operations.

Published In

Volume 12, Issue 2

Written By

Edwin ‘Leigh’ Armistead

Raymond ‘Scott’ Starsman

Keywords

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Global Influence and Cyber Macht

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on Global Influence and investigates the phenomena that the ability to influence events no longer resides primarily at the national or governmental level. Instead, small groups of people and even individuals with a potent message and a well-chosen audience are now able to broadcast their message, excite a population, and even initiate an attack. No overall theory on power has emerged in the information era because Cyber Macht is an idea that supports so many disparate academic areas. The authors attempt to lay the foundation for the formation of basic concepts for a new Cyber Macht theory.

Published In

Volume 13, Issue 1

Written By

Edwin ‘Leigh’ Armistead

Raymond ‘Scott’ Starsman

Keywords

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On Operational-Level Cybersecurity Strategy Formation

ABSTRACT

An operational-level cybersecurity strategy formation reveals ways of figuring out an optimal sequence of the most efficient and effective actions that may lead to the success of a cyber operation. Unfortunately, it is not well explored. This paper proposes a new operational-level cybersecurity-strategy-formation framework, which is capable of linking various strategies together in a systematic and consolidated way so that the most optimal and effective solution can be quickly selected. This paper also evaluates the proposed approach and suggests areas for further study.