GOLD: Info and Cyber
Information operations (IO) and cyber operations (CO) complement one another in warfare. IO have to do with the ability to use information to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or take over the decision-making processes of adversaries while safeguarding ones own decision-making processes. This can refer to anything such as psychological operations, military deception, operations security, or the spreading of misinformation or disinformation through media to get adversaries to think and act a certain way? (Crowell, 2019).
Cyber operations, on the other hand, refer to the actions within cyberspace which pertain to the use of cyber abilities like conducting attacks against information systems, or defending networks from attacks, or exploiting information from adversary systems (Fahrenkrug, 2012). Cyber ops tend to exploit security vulnerabilities to extract or seize data from systems. Typical cyber ops range from hacking systems to using malware, or waging Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks to take servers offline?.
CO and IO can be and often are used in tandem. An example of the integration of IO and CO is the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict (Crowell, 2019). In this case, Russia used a combination of cyber attacks against Georgian information systems to disrupt Georgian communications. Russia was able to take Georgia's command offline and control its systems. The operation also caused confusion and panic in the Georgian populace, which shows how strong this combination of attacks can be (Crowell, 2019).
Incorporating both IO and CO into military operations enhances their effectiveness because of the fact that the technical and psychological aspects of warfare are being used to take power away from an adversary. Because the adversary's decision-making processes are taken away or reduced, this is a type of modern warfare that is very intriguing to nation states and militaries today.
References
Crowell, R. (2019). War in the Information Age: A Primer for Information Operations and
Cyberspace Operations in 21st Century Warfare. PDF.
Fahrenkrug, D. (2012). Countering the Offensive Advantage in Cyberspace: an Integrated
Defensive Strategy. PDF.
