New Technologies in International Law / Tymofeyeva, Crhák et al.

Conclusion ‘The internet is being used not only to commit cyber attacks, but also to shape a new reality. (…) The spread of disinformation through cyberspace, particularly using social media, makes it possible to manipulate society on a mass scale.’ 715 Taking into consideration the example of the 15 February 2022 attack by Russia, the position expressed above can easily be confirmed. The primary goal of those carrying out a cyber attack is often not the acquisition of data itself, but to confuse the public, sow panic and create an atmosphere of intimidation. The idea is consequently to deprive citizens, as well as authorities, of a sense of control. The hybrid war is, therefore, really not so much an information war as it is primarily a psychological war. This conclusion seems to be confirmed by Sven Herpig who has been already quoted above. He claimed that cyber operations have become part of modern psychological war these days and the aim of themwas to alarm the population and break the willingness to resist. 716 The second conclusion relating directly to the law, which is the answer to the questi on posed in the introduction about the state of the contemporary legal system, is that there are clear gaps in the law in terms of the regulation needed to address the problem of hybrid war and cyber security breaches. Indeed, the existing solutions appear to be incomplete and insufficient, and some remain so ambiguous to the doctrine that the legitimacy of their application to cyber-conflicts is questioned.

715 Gardocki S, Wrona J, ‘Russia’s use of cyberspace in hybrid conflicts in the light of Russian cyber security policy’ (2020) 2(38) Colloquium 33. 716 Taube F, ‘Wojna w Ukrainie. Szczególna rola cyberataków’ ( DW , 1 March 2022) accessed 16 December 2023.

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