Should Russia be prepared to cyberwar?

Social networks have become one of the methods of cyber warfare, including against Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said speaking at "Civil University" in Moscow.

According to him, social networks are used to exercise "powerful manipulation of public opinion, because all sorts of "likes "and other buttons that you click there, immediately take you to certain groups, which are then analyzed and systematized."

Rogozin believes that all this creates an opportunity to work with people who, for example, stick to opposing views. One can manipulate them through open social networks by entering into separate segments, reports ITAR-TASS.

"This increases the number of people, who begin to receive special information that undermines the authority of the government and values ​​of the state. We know that this is being used actively," said Dmitry Rogozin.

He said that a special department of the U.S. State Department was engaged in this kind of affairs. Rogozin said that he had met with the head of the department, which was actively working "on the use of social networks to let the USA achieve its military goals by non-military means." The Vice Prime Minister stressed that for NATO, cyber war had become a threat of war and military response. Russia monitors the process, he added.

The Washington Post has recently published an article alleging that American intelligence agencies had direct access to the servers of nine major Internet giants, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Facebook to conduct surveillance of private citizens as part of a secret government program known as PRISM.

The head of U.S. National Intelligence James Clapper did not deny that intelligence agencies had access to the servers of Internet companies to collect users' personal data. He confirmed that it was going about non-U.S. users living outside the States.

It has been reported before that largest Internet companies collect information about their users. This is a well-known fact that, in general, does not cause much indignation with people.

Well-known Russian blogger Dmitry Puchkov also believes that social networks have become an instrument of ideological struggle. "All color revolutions are made through Twitter and Facebook. This is a tool to organize and direct the masses. They now change regimes with their help," he said.

According to Dmitry Puchkov, prohibitions can not solve anything. "There is a famous thesis that works here "if you can't win - become a leader. So one needs  to create their own structure, which, like in the United States, work on the net too," he told Pravda.Ru.

The problem of state ideology becomes particularly important in this case. "Since the times of perestroika, two generations of people have grown, who hate Russia, - he said. - They believe that all the good things are in America and in Europe, and in Russia everything is bad starting with Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Stalin, Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin. "

"Try to convince these people of anything," he concluded.

Social networks have different functions, including those mentioned by Dmitry Rogozin, the director of Intelligent Internet Fund, Vladimir Mamontov believes. "All this is true, but what is a conclusion?" he said. "The conclusion, as I see it, is as follows. Cyberspace, virtual reality, social networking - they are used as tools and weapons. One should learn how to use these tools. We shouldn't try to deny this, we should make them serve our goals and objectives," he told Pravda.Ru.

"Those who do not catch up with the technology of influence lose the game. That's the way our new global world is. We want to be a part of this world without losing our economic, cultural and many other advantages," said Vladimir Mamontov.

Anton Kulikov

Pravda.Ru

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