THE ROLE OF MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS IN ENSURING THE INFORMATION SECURITY OF THE STATE IN A HYBRID WARFARE: CHALLENGES, THREATS AND WAYS TO INCREASE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF SOCIETY

Abstract

Information security is an integral part of national security and is considered one of the priority areas of state policy. On the one hand, it involves creating conditions for high-quality, comprehensive information for citizens and ensuring free access to various sources of information. On the other hand, it includes mechanisms for preventing the spread of disinformation, strengthening public unity, preserving information sovereignty, countering information and psychological attacks and propaganda, as well as protecting the national information space from external manipulative influences, information wars and operations. A comprehensive solution to information security issues will allow simultaneously protecting the interests of the state and society, as well as guaranteeing citizens the right to access complete, objective and reliable information.

The article examines the role of modern information and communication technologies as a key factor in the hybrid wars of the 21st century. It is noted that information, as a strategic resource, simultaneously acts as a means of realizing the rights and freedoms of citizens and an instrument of destructive influence and manipulation of public consciousness. Based on the concept of hybrid war proposed by F. Hoffmann and the research of M. Bond, the specifics of modern conflicts are analyzed, in which a complex combination of military, political, economic and information-psychological methods of influence are used. Particular attention is paid to the role of the mass media in the formation of a "parallel reality" - a combination of facts and interpretations that affect the cognitive and behavioral reactions of the mass audience in conditions of political instability.