Offensive Information Warfare Revisited: Social Media Use in Man-Made Crises

Socio-technical forecasts that materialized are of particular interest, as they are based on basic principles that must hold true for a long time, and thus worthy of special attention. The exploitation of the Internet as a vehicle for psychological and physical battle has been anticipated ever since the Internet became a world-wide phenomenon. Its potential for abuse by terrorist groups motivated Valeri & Knights to compile a list of key predictions, without the benefit of the hindsight afforded by the post-millennial terrorist attacks on the USA & Europe, and before social media was conceived. This paper evaluates some of their predictions in light of the massive social media and network attacks that occurred in Israel and Syria. Additionally, the paper examines how attacked governments and nations respond. The authors find that some of the key predictions advanced by Valeri and Knights have proven accurate. Offensive information warfare attacks have and will continue to influence policies, budgets and civic voluntary participation to counter such attacks.