Invisible warfare can be understood as a battle of misinformation and perception. It is conducted through non-kinetic military actions, which have minimal involvement of brute force. They are fought with soft forces of diplomacy, social engineering, cyber-attacks, and sanctions. Due to the incorporation and usage of technology in its conduct, invisible warfare is also referred to as ‘fifth-generation warfare’ or ‘non-kinetic warfare’.

Following are the challenges invisible warfare poses to India’s internal security:

• Threat to critical sectors: Infrastructures like banking and telecom have become vulnerable to malware attacks, crypto-jacking, phishing attacks, etc. It can compromise the strategic information of the nation. E.g., Cosmos bank cyber-attack, UIDAI information hijack, AIIMS ransomware attack, etc.
• Data tracking and information hijacking: The import of foreign-made software and service provisioning have increased exponentially. These are often laced with inbuilt malware, which can easily sabotage the system and may lead to information transfer. E.g., Gionee case of malware implantation.
• Misinformation and fake news: Propaganda and misinformation can be used to sow seeds of discontentment and suspicion in the mind of the citizenry against the government, which can adversely impact the overall peace and security of the nation.
• Damaging the country’s social fabric: Intentional circulation and release of communally charged videos create religious animosity that can disturb communal harmony.
• Promoting secessionist tendencies: India has long faced the brunt of provoking narratives by neighboring countries. These are to incite disenchantment among border states through coveted and diplomatic narrative building. States of erstwhile J&K, Punjab, and Arunachal Pradesh have seen instances that threaten the unity of the country.
• Global espionage and spying: Penetration of digital technology has made India highly vulnerable to global espionage and spying attempts. International forces have already spread their web of technological espionage across the country. E.g., espionage on Bharat Biotech, SII (during COVID-19 vaccine development) by Chinese hacker Stone Panda.

Steps taken to tackle challenges of invisible warfare:

• National Cyber Security Strategy: It proposes a three-pronged approach- people, processes, and technology.
  • For people, it mandates increasing cyber hygiene, and the number of cybersecurity professionals.
  • For processes, it proposes SOPs, a management plan for a cyber crisis, and privileges to ensure that minimum access is given to users.
  • The technology vertical would address the need for firewalls, installation of intrusion prevention systems, behavioral analysis tools, network segmentation, and creation of offline backups.
• The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In): It is the national bureau for event response, including evaluation, prediction, and alerts for cybersecurity breaches. It offers technical support and guidance on how to recover from computer security incidents.
• The Cyber Swachhta Kendra: It aims to create a secure cyberspace by identifying botnet infections in India and alerting, and facilitating the cleaning process along with securing the systems of end users to avoid future infections.
• NATGRID: It is an integrated intelligence master database structure that links databases from several security agencies within the Government of India. It collects detailed patterns obtained from numerous organizations and makes them easily accessible to security agencies around the clock.
• Stringent regulations and strategies: The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the creation of the National Counter Ransomware Task Force.

India has one of the highest numbers of internet users. With the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape, a good security plan is needed which must include regular technology upgrades, awareness, skilling, and reskilling of all stakeholders.