Hunter Storm from Internet Pranks to Psychological Warfare

From Internet Shenanigans to Strategic Tradecraft

Early Internet pranks became psychological warfare (PsyOps) in the modern era. Here’s how it happened.

In the mid-1990s, a handful of us early internet users were just having fun. We weren’t thinking about intelligence, warfare, or large-scale influence campaigns. We were experimenting, messing around, and figuring out how digital spaces worked, often at the expense of our friends’ sanity.

What we didn’t realize at the time? The games we played, weaponized earworms, cursed imagery, social engineering tricks, and digital misdirection, would later become the foundation of modern psychological operations.

This article will take you on a journey through:

  • How early Internet culture accidentally developed key psychological warfare (PsyOps) tactics.
  • Why intelligence agencies, militaries, and corporations later adopted those tactics for real-world influence.
  • What we can learn from the evolution of these methods.

 

Why This Article is Unique

My perspective on how early Internet pranks became psychological warfare tactics is unique. In fact this is the first article on the topic.

While there are discussions on psychological operations and the role of social media in modern warfare, the specific connection between early Internet culture, such as message boards and IRC communities, and formal psychological operations, remains an underexplored aspect of its evolution.

 

Eagle Eye View

I’m not writing about history after reading about it online or watching a documentary. I was there near the beginning. My friends and I were playing with emerging technology, not knowing we were simultaneously making history and creating the future.

The uniqueness of this article stems from my firsthand experience during the formative years of the Internet, providing insights that are not widely documented. By sharing this narrative, I’m offering a fresh perspective that bridges the gap between informal online behaviors and their evolution into recognized psychological tactics.

 

From the Edge to the Enterprise

Of course, I didn’t stop at playing with technology. Instead, I discovered a passion for a career path I’d never considered. It was a long journey from reading Cult of the Dead Cow posts to eating steaks, but I took this knowledge and experience, built upon it, and became a global enterprise:

 

Inside The Matrix

So, I have intimate knowledge of these spaces from a perspective most have never seen. This experience led to specialization in artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, quantum, and emerging technology innovation. My work bridges technical mastery and an experimental mindset with human-centric system design.

 

Why This Perspective About How Internet Pranks Became Psychological Warfare Is Unique

In the mid-1990s, the Internet was a frontier largely navigated by enthusiasts and early adopters. Communities on message boards and IRC channels engaged in activities that, at the time, were seen as harmless pranks or social experiments. These included:

  • Cursed Imagery: Posting unsettling images to elicit reactions.
  • Digital Misdirection: Creating deceptive online trails just to observe outcomes.
  • Social Engineering for Fun: Playfully tricking friends into revealing information or performing actions.
  • Weaponized Earworms: Sharing catchy tunes to playfully embed them in peers’ minds.

 

While these activities were conducted in jest, they inadvertently laid the groundwork for techniques now employed in psychological operations. The transition from innocent fun to strategic application in areas like cybersecurity and information warfare is a narrative that hasn’t been extensively covered in existing literature. The way Internet pranks became psychological warfare is just natural human innovation at work. People have been repurposing tools for millennia and will continue to do so.

By highlighting this evolution, this article not only sheds light on an overlooked aspect of Internet history but also emphasizes the value of unconventional skills in today’s cybersecurity landscape. This perspective can inspire individuals with similar backgrounds to recognize their potential contributions to critical fields, thereby addressing talent gaps and enhancing security measures.

 

The “Games” We Played on the Early Internet

In the days of message boards, IRC, and early web forums (circa 1994-2000), there were certain unspoken rules:

  • If you could mess with your friends in a creative way, you did.
  • If someone was too gullible, they got socially engineered.
  • If you could break a system just to see if it was possible, you tested it.

 

Some of these “games” became legendary pranks. Others? They became serious psychological tools. That’s how Internet pranks became psychological warfare.

 

Weaponized Earworms

 

What We Did:

We’d deliberately get songs stuck in each other’s heads (Frosty the Snowman in July, Mahna Mahna, etc.). It was funny because once the seed was planted, the person couldn’t stop thinking about it.

 

What It Became:

Cognitive disruption tactics. Modern psyops use music loops, repetitive sound patterns, and familiar songs to embed ideas into people’s subconscious minds or break their focus.
Social engineering triggers. Companies, advertisers, and even intelligence agencies now use repetitive patterns to reinforce memory loops and behavior.

 

Cursed Imagery and Psychological Shock

 

What We Did:

We’d send each other disturbing, bizarre, or cursed images for the sole purpose of unsettling people.
Grotesque images and uncomfortably distorted faces became inside jokes among cybersecurity and Internet culture groups.

 

What It Became:

  • Propaganda and shock tactics. Governments and psychological warfare units use disturbing imagery to desensitize, influence emotional reactions, or create fear.
  • Meme-based disinformation campaigns. The modern Internet weaponizes viral images to spread narratives rapidly.

 

Social Engineering for Fun

 

What We Did:

We’d call businesses just to see if we could get passwords, inside info, or make them believe something ridiculous. “Prank calls” weren’t just for fun, they were active tests of social vulnerabilities.

 

What It Became:

  • Corporate & national security training. Companies now hire social engineers to test human vulnerabilities in their security systems.
  • Nation-state intelligence operations. Spear-phishing, misinformation, and insider manipulation all stem from the same tactics we once used as jokes.

 

Learn about how to stop insider threats in my article, Identifying and Mitigating Insider Threats.

 

Digital Misdirection & Psychological Traps

 

What We Did:

  • We created directories full of garbage files with misleading names just to mess with people digging through them.
  • We’d send people on wild-goose chases, create fake login pages, or plant false information just to see if they’d fall for it.

 

What It Became:

  • Counterintelligence tactics. Intelligence agencies plant false data to mislead adversaries.
  • Corporate misinformation campaigns. Some companies intentionally leak misleading data to throw off competitors.

 

When the Military and Intelligence Agencies Started Paying Attention

By the mid-to-late 2000s, the tactics we had been using for fun started showing up in official military, intelligence, and corporate psychological operations. Some of these “pranks” stopped being underground. Governments, corporations, and intelligence agencies started recognizing how effective these psychological tactics were.

What changed? They realized these methods worked. They saw how:

  • Easy it was to plant an idea in someone’s head (weaponized earworms).
  • Cursed imagery and repetition could manipulate emotions (shock tactics, viral memes).
  • Misinformation could be layered to create false realities (social engineering, digital misdirection).

 

Some of the earliest official applications of these tactics included:

 

The Rise of Meme-Based Warfare

  • Intelligence and defense agencies began monitoring and using memes as tools of influence.
  • Psychological operations (PSYOPs) groups realized that short-form, visual content could be used to push narratives without detection.
  • Countries started using memes and viral imagery to control public perception.

 

Corporate and Government Disinformation Campaigns

  • What started as pranks in hacker circles turned into multi-layered information warfare.
  • Companies planted misleading stories online to manipulate stock prices or competitors.
  • Governments seeded fake narratives through viral content, counting on cognitive biases and social reinforcement to spread them.

 

Social Engineering as an Industry

  • Intelligence agencies built entire divisions dedicated to manipulating people online through false personas, social media engineering, and scripted narratives.
  • Penetration testing firms started hiring social engineers to test security systems using the exact tactics we once used just for fun.

 

What This Means Today

If you were part of the “original gangsta” (OG) Internet culture, we weren’t just witnessing the evolution of digital influence. We were actively shaping it. We designed and built the:

  • Psychological pressure points we exploited just to see what would happen.
  • Troll tactics, social engineering, and digital disruptions we played with for fun.
  • Viral patterns we created before they had a name.

 

Those antics became the backbone of modern information warfare.

 

What We Can Learn from This

  • The Internet was weaponized faster than anyone predicted.
  • What started as chaos and curiosity turned into methodical, structured influence operations.
  • We’re still playing in the same system, but the stakes are higher.
  • The same tools that were used for pranks are now used for nation-state conflicts, corporate espionage, and large-scale psychological warfare.
  • If you understand the origins, you can see the patterns.
  • The people who recognize how these tactics evolved aren’t just reacting to today’s digital landscape, they’re predicting the next phase.

 

How These Skills Can Be Used for Good

It’s easy to look at this and feel like the Internet was weaponized against us. But here’s the thing: If you recognize these tactics, you’re exactly the kind of person we need to protect critical infrastructure.

The cybersecurity world desperately needs people who:

  • See the game before it’s played.
  • Think in patterns.
  • Understand psychological vulnerabilities.

 

If you were the kind of person who:

  • Knew how to manipulate information flows before anyone was calling it that.
  • Pulled off social engineering pranks for fun.
  • Set up digital traps just to see if people would fall for them.

 

Then you already have the core skills needed to secure the systems that matter. Cybersecurity, intelligence, and critical infrastructure security need unconventional minds. If you ever thought about applying these skills for good, now is the time. If this resonates with you, check out these programs, communities, and resources in the next section to see how your skills can be applied to real-world security challenges:

 

Getting Started in Cybersecurity and Psychological Operations

 

Cybersecurity Certifications & Training

  • CyberWarrior Academy: Hands-on training, especially for non-traditional backgrounds.
  • SANS CyberTalent Programs: Great for unconventional minds looking to break into cybersecurity.
  • TryHackMe & Hack The Box: Gamified cybersecurity learning.

 

Psychological Warfare & Information Security Resources

  • CISA Cybersecurity Workforce Programs: U.S. government talent pipeline for cybersecurity.
  • Cyber Influence: Predicting Human Behavior, James J.F. Forest: Analyzing digital influence strategies.
  • The Science of Influence, Kevin Hogan: Deep dive into human manipulation.
  • Weapons of Mass Persuasion, Paul Adams: How psychological tactics shape behavior.

 

Communities & Forums to Connect with Others in the Field:

  • Def Con Groups: Local hacker meetups around the world.
  • r/OSINT on Reddit: Open-source intelligence and digital forensics discussions.
  • The Social Engineering Community: Resources on ethical social engineering & security.

 

If you’ve ever thought about using your skills for something bigger, these are the places to start. You’re not just “good at Internet stuff.” You might be exactly the kind of person who can make a difference.

 

Shadow Wars

The average person might find the cybersecurity and information warfare world to be a little creepy sometimes, but I think that’s because they don’t actually understand what some of it is used for. Although there are legitimate concerns about misuse of technology, the tech is already out there. It’s just like firearms or any other defensive or offensive weapon or tool. In the hands of the good guys, they are good tools. PsyOps are the same: another tool that can be used for good.

 

Ghosts in the Machine

A compelling example are the artistic and impactful psychological warfare recruitment videos created by The U.S. Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group. This content was created to attract potential recruits and includes the notable example of a video titled Ghosts in the Machine 2, released in May 2022. This video stands out for its eerie and suspenseful presentation, resembling a psychological thriller. It combines historical footage, cryptic messages, and a haunting soundtrack to immerse viewers into the world of psychological operations. The video’s unique approach has garnered significant attention and sparked discussions about its artistic and strategic merits. Learn more about it at armytimes.com.

The creative force behind this video aimed to encapsulate the essence of PSYOP missions. Colonel Chris Stangle, commander of the 4th PSYOP Group, mentioned that the intent was to convey the experience of their craft’s success, drawing inspiration from classic suspense techniques. Learn more at taskandpurpose.com.

This video exemplifies how modern military recruitment efforts are evolving, utilizing sophisticated media to engage and attract individuals with the unique skill sets required for psychological and technological operations. These formal operations have certainly come a long way since innocuous Internet pranks became psychological warfare.

 

There is Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

As I mentioned above, this technology already exists. It’s not about whether or not it should exist. Now that it’s here, it’s about who controls it and how it’s used.

In the right hands? These tactics protect people, prevent conflicts, and counter harmful influence campaigns. In the wrong hands? They can manipulate, deceive, and erode trust at scale.

It’s no different from cybersecurity tools, firearms, or even artificial intelligence (AI). Ethics matter more than the tool itself. And those who immediately label something as “creepy” are often reacting emotionally rather than recognizing the full picture.

The reality is: If the good guys don’t understand and use these tools effectively, the bad guys will.

 

Dueling in the Dark

That’s why education, discussion, and responsible application matter more than fear. The irony is palpable. People feel uneasy around cybersecurity professionals, yet they have no idea how much work we put into protecting them. They:

  • Don’t see the nights we stayed up keeping systems secure.
  • Don’t realize that without people like us, they’d be far more vulnerable.
  • Assume cybersecurity is something to fear instead of something to trust.

 

And that’s why the work is so important. Education bridges the gap between knowledge and fear.

  • When people understand the purpose of cybersecurity, psyops, and digital defense, they stop seeing it as “scary” and start seeing it as necessary.
  • When ethical professionals set the standard for responsible use, it prevents bad actors from taking control of the narrative.
  • When trust is built, people work with security teams instead of fearing them.

 

It all comes down to awareness, ethics, and transparency. The content I’ve been creating for my site aims to shift the conversation in the right direction. In the meantime, we continue fighting invisible threats in the shadows.

 

The Wizard Walks By | Humor in the Field

One of my friends is a military combat veteran. In his world, they are warriors. Combat is kinetic and the enemy is visible. In contrast, he thinks of my world of cybersecurity as the world of magic, and our practitioners as wizards. We get a lot of laughs about Conan the Barbarian’s view of “wizardry,” the perfect metaphor for the realm of cybersecurity, intelligence, and psychological operations.

“I’m a wizard, mind you. This place is kept by powerful gods and spirits of kings. Harm my flesh and you will have to deal with the dead!” – The Wizard, Conan the Barbarian

 

Atomic Cyberpunks | The Oppenheimers of PsyOps

Another friend once asked how other early cybersecurity pioneers and I felt about the way Internet pranks became psychological warfare. He commented that sometimes, we “must feel a little bit like Oppenheimer after The Manhattan Project.”

It was an interesting and thought-provoking question and comparison. However, none of us knew our work would later be weaponized. Therefore, I feel more like a combination of Van Halen’s Atomic Punk than the “father of the atomic bomb.” I’m pretty good at predictive analysis, but none of us could have foreseen our fun would develop into this future.

 

Goonies | Playing in the Caves

Besides that, we used the Internet for shenanigans it wasn’t originally intended for. Rather, it was created specifically for defense purposes. In fact, the creator’s name says it all. The Internet was designed and built by US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).  We should have realized that weaponization was always in the cards, but we were like kids playing in a restricted area.

In retrospect, both early cybersecurity pioneers and the defense industry benefited greatly from our unintentional symbiosis.

The average Internet user would be wise to remember that they are not playing in a children’s sandbox. Instead, the Internet is more like an abandoned quarry on an alien planet in a Sci-Fi movie. It is filled with dangers that look like treats.

 

References for Further Exploration

To explore additional context and avenues for deeper understanding, check out the following references:

  • Memetic Warfare: Exploration of how memes have become tools in modern information warfare.
  • Non-Traditional Cybersecurity Career Paths: Insights into how individuals from diverse backgrounds can transition into cybersecurity roles.
  • Psychological Warfare in the Digital Age: An academic analysis of cyber operations’ role in modern psychological tactics.
  • Psychological Warfare Overview: A comprehensive look at the strategies and applications of psychological operations.

 

These references provide readers with pathways to further explore the topics discussed, enriching their understanding and encouraging continued learning.

 

Glossary of Internet-Born Psychological Warfare Tactics

  • Cognitive Disruption Tactics: Methods used to overload a person’s brain with stimuli to reduce critical thinking.
  • Cursed Imagery: Disturbing or surreal images designed to create discomfort or implant lasting impressions.
  • Digital Misdirection: The practice of planting fake information or creating dead-end paths to confuse adversaries.
  • False Flag Social Engineering: Using fake personas to infiltrate groups or manipulate discussions.
  • Memetic Warfare: The use of viral memes to shape public perception, reinforce narratives, or create division.
  • Social Engineering: The art of manipulating people into revealing information or performing actions they otherwise wouldn’t.
  • Weaponized Earworms: Repetitive sounds or phrases used to make a person’s brain fixate on a thought.

 

The Joke That Became Reality

None of us set out to create the blueprint for digital psychological warfare. We were just having fun, pushing limits, and experimenting in ways no one had ever tried before. But the reality is, what we started as a joke became a playbook. And now?

  • Governments use it.
  • Corporations use it.
  • Intelligence agencies use it.

 

The only difference? Some of us knew the game and created the playbook. Next time you spot a viral meme pushing an agenda, a song looping endlessly in your mind, or a perfectly timed digital misdirection, ask yourself: is this random, or is this deliberate?

Because what started as harmless pranks became a battlefield. And today, we’re not just architects of chaos, we’re also architects of control.

 

Controlled Chill with Your “Boo”

On that note, I’ll leave you with a fun song to set the mood: Spooky by The Atlanta Rhythm Section. You can listen while you read the haunting tale of Conversations with a Ghost | People in High Stakes Roles. This is a true story of interacting with AI and its assorted support humans.

Learn more about the history and early days of cybersecurity and psyops in my article, Ghosts of IRC | How Early Cybersecurity and PsyOps Pioneers Crossed Paths Without Knowing It.

If you need to warm up to cast off the chill after reading that ghost story, you might enjoy my article, How I Took the Internet’s Biggest Manipulation Tactics… and Flipped Them to My Advantage.

After delving into these dark tales, you’ll gain an even better understanding of how Internet pranks became psychological warfare.

 

Discover More

Enjoy this unique article about how Internet pranks became psychological warfare? Explore Hunter Storm’s articles on technology, AI, cybersecurity, quantum, Internet history, communication, psychology, and more:

 

#HowTo#Humor#HunterStorm
By Technology and Innovation