Believe Me, Propaganda To The Spread Of Hoaxes Can Be The Main Tool For War

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

JAKARTA - Head of the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), Lieutenant General TNI (Ret.) Hinsa Siburian, said that engineered information has become one of the main tools in warfare.

"Today's war does not only use physical weapons, but also uses information that has been engineered. It is already the main tool in warfare," Hinsa said as quoted by Antara.

He made this statement when giving an introduction at a national seminar entitled "Current Cybersecurity Trends and Future Challenges" which was broadcast on the YouTube channel of the National Cyber and Crypto Agency, monitored from Jakarta, Monday 7 February.

There are several techniques in using information engineering as a weapon in war, namely by carrying out black propaganda, information flooding, polarization, and other types of techniques that are familiar in Indonesia, namely through the spread of hoaxes.

This information engineering, he said, is a cyber attack that is social in nature, where the targets are humans. This attack aims to influence the way of thinking, belief systems, and attitudes and actions of humans who interact in cyberspace.

"If this hoax is designed in such a way as to instill hatred in the community, instill hatred between community groups and other communities, this will be very dangerous, especially for Indonesia," he said.

He took the example of the war in Syria. He said Syria is a country that has fallen victim to an information war. The war that took place there was preceded by the cultivation of hatred in the community.

"The community is pitted against the government, it breeds hatred, and all of that through information warfare in cyberspace," said Siburian.

Therefore, he said that cyber attacks of a social nature are very dangerous for Indonesia, especially with the diversity that has become the identity of this nation.

“Information is implanted to hate each other, then the community is always looking for faults or shortcomings of the government with a specific purpose. It's very dangerous," he said.

"It's not that we don't accept corrections. If this has been designed in such a way, it is our duty to protect the Indonesian nation," he said.