Driven by the advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, and platform-based information ecosystems, cyber-enabled influence operations have become one of the major security concerns in today’s digital environment. For states, information serves as a pivotal strategic asset that helps shape perceptions, signal intent, and influence the behavior of the population. In the contemporary environment, conflicts are not restricted to the military realm only. Information is used by the states as a strategic tool to enhance their objectives and policies. As per Dr. Tim Steven, Head of King’s College Cyber Security Research Group, “Cyberwarfare of the future may be less about hacking electrical power grids and more about hacking minds by shaping the environment in which political debate takes place.”[1]
Influence Operations (IOs) are defined as intentional and coordinated efforts by a state, organization, or non-state actors to shape the perceptions, attitudes, and behavior of the target population to achieve their socio-economic, political, and strategic objectives. Influence operations, in principle, are non-kinetic in nature; however, they can be employed as part of the larger military operations. States opt for influence operations as they offer the promise of potential victory through the “use of non-military (non-kinetic) means to erode the adversary’s willpower, confuse and constrain his decision-making, and undermine his public support, so that victory can be attained without a shot being fired.”[2] It includes all the measures taken by the actors to influence the perception of the concerned population, both during peacetime and armed conflict. Therefore, influence operations serve as an umbrella term for all the operations in the information domain, including all the soft power activities.[3]
