Such activities are becoming more and more common due to the fact that they are hard to find out and track, and not easy to attribute to a particular perpetrator. 96) claims that information war is intense confrontation in the information space in order to achieve information, psychological and ideological superiority, damage information systems, processes and resources, critical structures and communications (Information technology, network-centric and cyberwar), undermining the political and social systems, and also massive psychological processing of military personnel and the general public (information-psychological war).Īn important element of the information war is disinformation which according to European Commission (2018) is “verifiably false or misleading information that is created, presented and disseminated for economic gain or to intentionally deceive the public.” Disinformation has long been used to erode trust in state authorities, to create social unrest and to obstruct state and social goals related to, for example, the problem of migration or a pandemic. Berezin (2003) also writes about information and psychological wars, he is convinced that the goal of the information war is to achieve information dominance which is aimed at preventing the opponent from using the information space. It is also applicable in politics, culture and economy in the form of: information and propaganda campaigns of political parties, extortions, data theft necessary to use the victim's bank account, activism, hacktivism, physical destruction of telephone exchanges and control rooms. 107) alleges that the information fight takes place not only in the military sphere. Disinformation has serious consequences for modern countries as it creates a new threat to their national security in peacetime.Ĭountries have always strived to obtain a military advantage in numbers and quality in order to ensure national security. Social awareness is built through effective education aimed at raising basic medical knowledge. The analyses show that the fight against disinformation must be based on the assumption that the security of the state depends primarily on the information awareness of each citizen. Secondly, the disinformation used during the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated its effects, causing damage on an unprecedented scale.
related to the outbreak of a pandemic) contributes to the destabilization of public mood, hinders the functioning of the basic organs of the state and, consequently, increases the negative effects of crisis events. The main findings show that the phenomenon of disinformation, which intensifies in crisis situations (e.g. Research methods and techniques implemented in the research process itself are primarily based on a critical analysis of the literature and the analysis and synthesis of published research results. Therefore, the study explores some processes visible at the international level and reviews some external problems in connection with national security. The study examines certain impacts of disinformation on national security as a system, on the example of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One such threat is disinformation, which is increasingly being used intentionally. Nowadays, the vast majority of the threats to our security is related to information security, resulting in a significant transformation of national security systems.