Contemporary security challenges are increasingly shaped through hybrid warfare and information operations, which change traditional understandings of conflict and threaten national and international security without a formal declaration of war. This paper analyzes the concept of hybrid warfare and the role of information operations as its key element, with special reference to cyber activities, digital media and the psychological impact on societies and institutions. Through a review of relevant literature and strategic documents of the European Union and NATO, the paper indicates the ways in which state and non-state actors use a combination of military and non-military means to achieve political and security goals in the gray zone between war and peace. Special attention is paid to the problems of attribution, legal regulation and the challenges that hybrid threats pose to the existing systems of collective security. It is concluded that an effective response to these modern threats requires a comprehensive and coordinated approach that includes strengthening cyber security, strategic communication, institutional resilience and international cooperation.
Azdejković et al. (Wed,) studied this question.