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2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

The Dark Side of Interconnectivity: Social Media as a Cyber–Weapon?

Author : Sofia Martins Geraldes

Published in: Social Media and the Armed Forces

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Traditional wisdom understands weapons as tools that cause or have the potential to cause damage or harm, whereas cyber-weapons relate to the use of computer code that causes or has the potential to cause damage or harm. Both conceptions understand damage and harm as inherently physical. While the rise of social networks creates new opportunities for strategic communications in the armed forces, it also facilitates hostile activities, such as psychological operations, with the potential to cause damage beyond the physical domain, thus challenging the traditional understanding of weapons. This contribution investigates the potential of social media to be used as a cyber-weapon, arguing that Russia used social media as a cyber-weapon in the conflict with Ukraine. The analysis demonstrates that Russia’s use of social media caused damage to Ukraine, which consequently contributed to the reform of the security and defence sector in Ukraine.

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previous chapter A Transparent Network – Soldiers’ Digital Resistance and Economic Unrest
next chapter Misinformation and Disinformation in Social Media as the Pulse of Finnish National Security
Footnotes
1
See, for example, Fried and Polyakova (2018).
 
2
This study does not seek to provide a deterministic point of view on technology, but rather to challenge traditional conceptions of war, namely regarding what counts as a weapon and what kind of harm a weapon could cause to be considered as one.
 
3
For a detailed understanding of this securitisation process see, for example, Hansen and Nissenbaum (2009).
 
4
For a better understanding see, for example, Boyte (2017).
 
5
Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm, that targets SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition systems) and, although neither the USA nor Israel openly admitted its use, it is believed that their use of Stuxnet was responsible for causing damage to the nuclear programme of Iran. For a better understanding see, for example, Lindsay (2013).
 
6
For a better understanding see, for example, Eilstrup-Sangiovanni (2018).
 
7
In this context, targeting means to direct a disinformation campaign at a specific person or group (Roose 2018).
 
8
This research does not aim to deepen the understanding of the underlying dynamics of the conflict, but to demonstrate the role of social media in it as a cyber-weapon.
 
9
Social media was also used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, government, and civil society to spread information or gain advantage (Herrick 2016). Nevertheless, we focus on the use of these platforms by Russia, considering its implications and role as a game changer in the paradigm of the information warfare landscape (Giles n.d; Herrick 2016; Lange-Ionatamishvili and Svetoka 2015).
 
10
Although evidence demonstrates that Russia used both traditional and social media to mutually reinforce the narrative and address younger and older generations (Blank 2017; Lange-Ionatamishvili and Svetoka 2015), the goal of this chapter is to focus on the social media side, considering the novelty and challenges brought by these digital platforms.
 
11
Russian psychological operations aimed at shaping different audiences: Ukrainians, Russians, and international audiences (Blank 2017). However, the goal of this chapter is to focus on Ukrainian perceptions, namely of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
 
12
The focus on these operations relates to the fact that, in the approach to Russian information aggression, psychological operations are at the core of Ukrainian strategy.
 
13
For a better understanding of the concept ‘active measures’ see, for example, Giles (2016); Ajir and Vailliant (2018).
 
14
Euromaidan was a wave of civilian protests that began in November 2013 in Ukraine, sparked by the decision of the Ukrainian government to suspend the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union in order to build a stronger partnership with Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union.
 
15
In this context, a troll is a person who uses social media to sow chaos and discord.
 
16
In this context, a bot is an automated account.
 
17
In this context, social engineering refers to the manipulation and exploitation of human cognitive biases in order to exert influence (Willemo 2019).
 
18
In this context, impersonation refers to the act of pretending to be another person, organisation, newspaper or website for the purpose of manipulation (Willemo 2019).
 
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Metadata
Title
The Dark Side of Interconnectivity: Social Media as a Cyber–Weapon?
Author
Sofia Martins Geraldes
Copyright Year
2020
Book
Social Media and the Armed Forces

Print ISBN: 978-3-030-47510-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-47511-6

Copyright Year: 2020

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47511-6_11