Special Aspects of Modern Hybrid Warfare on the Internet: Ontological Analysis and Russian Experience

The article explores the issue of using the Internet for a new form of informational confrontation between states - a hybrid war. The author conceptualizes the term of the “hybrid war”, defining it as a form of influence (authentic to the information society) of one state on another in order to control the socio-cultural, economic, political spheres of society without a direct use of military threats. Virtual social networks in a hybrid confrontation can be considered ontologically as a so called “Internet front” or a scene for the implementation of political manipulations and hybrid attacks. Being essentially a simulacrum of reality, the Internet allows, through virtual reality, to determine the life reality of a modern Internet user, thereby including them in a hybrid confrontation.