'Nothing Up My Sleeve': Information Warfare and the Magical Mindset

Abstract

This chapter outlines how human factors have been, are being, and could be leveraged as key strategic tools in information warfare and online influence in general. The cyber domain is an informational space, and those who inhabit it (i.e. the majority of the inhabitants of the modern world) can all too easily fall prey to mis/disinformation, 'fake news', rumour, and propaganda. The chapter will examine the following questions: a. What are the key challenges facing those confronting the shifting contours of the informational environment? b. How can cyber security learn from the history of deception as a tool of influence; in particular, what can be gained from examining the interaction between the history of warfare and its connections with magic as an art form which relies on the manipulation of human cognition? c. How might the adoption of a 'magical mindset' enable us to both mitigate hostile influence operations and enable our own offensive capability