From Bullets to Bytes : The rise of information warfare

B Salam *

In today's modem inter-connected world, wars are no longer fought exclusively with traditional weapons ie guns and bombs. Information warfare has emerged as a powerful weapon to manipulate public opinion, influence political decisions, disrupt National security and incite widespread violence.

From historical propaganda efforts to modem cyber-attacks, Information warfare has evolved into a critical component of global conflicts. Information Warfare is the warfare of the 21st century where disruption of an enemy's vital information infrastructure would prove more disastrous than the physical destruction of a vital asset Some examples of Information warfare we have seen in recent time are as follows:

Meitei-Kuki conflict : Information warfare became a dangerous weapon for both mobilization and division. Viral videos—some genuine, others doctored—flooded Facebook, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter), often inciting fear, anger, and retaliatory sentiment.

False claims about attacks, exaggerated casualty figures, and communal slurs circulated rapidly, inflaming hostilities, which in turn disrupts the internal security of the Nation. The clashes between the Kukis and Meiteis, which began on May 3, 2023 have resulted in the loss of many lives and displacement of huge number of people.

Russia-Ukraine war (2022) : Both sides used deepfakes, misattributed content, and selective framing to gain psychological advantage and international leverage. Platforms like Twitter, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube became key theaters for these campaigns.

Belarus's Use of Information Warfare (2020-2021 Protests) : Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's regime utilized State-run media to flood the domestic landscape with pro-Government propaganda, portraying protesters as foreign-backed terrorists and criminal agents. The regime also used cyber attacks to target opposition groups, journalists, and independent media outlets, blocking their communication channels and disrupting information flow.

Israel-Palestine Conflict (2021 Gaza Escalation) : During the Gaza conflict, both Israeli and Palestinian groups used social media platforms to spread their narratives. Israel promoted the precision of its airstrikes and framed itself as acting in self-defense against Hamas terrorism.

China's Digital Diplomacy (201Os - present) : China has been using digital diplomacy to assert its territorial claims over the South China Sea, engaging in a coordinated information campaign through State-controlled media, social media platforms, and diplomatic channels.

COVlD-19 Disinformation (2020-2022) : Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories : During the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation about the virus's origin, transmission, and vaccine safety spread rapidly on social media. Governments, non-State actors, and rogue organizations amplified narratives such as the virus being a bioweapon or claims of microchips in vaccines.

In recent weeks, Pakistan-linked cyber groups have intensified their activities against Indian targets, particularly in the wake of heightened tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, 2025. These cyberattacks have escalated into a significant component of the ongoing information warfare between the two nations.

A hacker group identifying itself as the "Pakistan Cyber Force" has claimed responsibility for breaching several Indian defence-related websites. The group reportedly accessed sensitive data from the Military Engineering Services and the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, obtaining login credentials and other personal information of defence personnel.

Additionally, the group defaced the website of Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL), a State-owned defence firm, by displaying the Pakistani flag and images of the Al Khalid tank. In response, Indian authorities have taken the AVNL website offline for a comprehensive audit Pakistan-linked Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, notably APT36 (Transparent Tribe) and SideCopy, have launched spear-phishing campaigns such as Operation Rustic Web and Flight Night.

These campaigns primarily target Indian Government and military personnel, exploiting the election period to maximize impact. The attacks involve sending malicious emails with attachments designed to steal credentials and deploy malware, posing significant threats to National security .

In a strategic move, APT36 has utilized documents themed around the Pahalgam terror attack to deceive recipients into downloading malicious payloads. These documents, masquerading as official communications from the Jammu & Kashmir Police and the Indian Air Force, are designed to harvest login credentials and install malware on targeted systems

Characteristics Of Information Warfare

1. No International Borders : Like other forms of attack, information related attacks could be carried out from anywhere in the world which do not respect Nationality or National boundaries. There are no ways to know who is under attack and who is attacking and what is the difference between trans-national crime and warfare.

2. Low-Cost Warfare : Adversaries can acquire the necessary equipment to wage this type of warfare at a very low cost. They would require a few computers and good connectivity to attack any network or steal information from them. Even if the entry is restricted to network, determined attacker will find a way to intrude and do the necessary damage. But the question arises, whether such an intrusion could change the course of the future battle.

3. Information a Tool of Subversion : Use of internet to build up a political support or work on the psychological factor of a Nation has been spoken about most glibly by the advanced Nations.

4. Tactical warning and Attack Assessment : Nature of threat is rapidly changing and the targets are also not as clearly defined as it used to be. As a result, traditional methods of intelligence gathering and analysis would be taking a back seat in the face of the challenges thrown up by the Information Warfare environment.

5. Cyber terrorism : As the intemet becomes more influential in all areas of human life, individuals or groups can use the anonymity afforded by cyberspace to threaten citizens specific groups, communities and entire countries without the inherent threat of capture, injury or death to the attacker that being physically present would bring. Cyber warfare can be a full-fledged war with National infrastructure as target.

For conduct of cyber warfare National level decision making would be required in real time. For such operations good monitoring of network traffic, web sites and data bases, intrusion detection, encryption and decryption and remote access facilities would be required.

There are many instances of Cyber terrorism across countries:

The Chinese Defence Ministry confirmed the existence of an online defence unit in May 2011. Composed of about thirty elite intemet specialists, the so called "Cyber Blue Team" or "Blue Army" is officially claimed to be engaged in cyber defense operations though there are fear that the unit has been used to penetrates secure online systems of foreign Governments.

In 1998, Spanish protestors bombarded the Institute for Global Communications (IGC) with thousands of bogus email messages. In 1998, ethnic Tamil guerrillas attempted to disrupt Sri Lankan Embassies by sending large volumes of email. The embassies received 800 emails a day over a 2-week period. May 2007, Estonia was subjected to a massive cyber-attack in the wake of the removal of Russian World War II war memorial from downtown Tallinn.

The attack was a distributed denial-of- service attack in which selected sites were bombarded with traffic to force them offline; nearly all Estonian Government Ministry networks as well as two major Estonian bank networks were knocked offline.

Latest information warfare attacks include the MGM Resorts cyberattack in late September 2023, a ransomware attack disrupting operations, and the Viasat cyber attack in February 2022, which had a Europe- wide impact and preceded the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Conclusion:

The evolution of warfare from traditional military confrontations to the digital battleground marks a profound shift in the nature of conflicts in the 21st century. Information warfare, once a peripheral concept, is now at the heart of strategic operations, influencing everything from military tactics to public opinion.

As we have seen in recent conflicts, nations are increasingly relying on cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, and media manipulation to achieve their goals without firing a single shot. The rise of information warfare, epitomized by tactics such as social media disinformation, cyber espionage, and psychological operations, presents both opportunities and challenges.

While these strategies can be powerful tools for statecraft, they also introduce risks, particularly in terms of global security, privacy, and the integrity of democratic systems. In this new age of warfare, the distinction between combatants and civilians is increasingly blurred, as both are targeted in the struggle for control over narratives and critical information infrastructure.

As the lines between physical and digital domains continue to fade, the international community must invest in developing frameworks for cyber defense, ensuring the protection of critical information infrastructure, and upholding the principles of international law in the face of these evolving threats.

The future of warfare will not only be fought with bullets but also with bytes, making it essential to adapt, innovate, and confront this emerging challenge head-on. Governments are waking up to the threat. Many comities now have dedicated cyber commands and are investing in digital literacy programs and counter-disinformation initiatives. However, resilience must also come from the ground up.

Media literacy, critical thinking, and algorithmic transparency are essential tools in empowering citizens to navigate the digital fog of war. As the world becomes increasingly inter-connected, the battles of the future may be fought less with firepower and more with firewalls. The frontline is no longer just the border—it is the browser.