In this lesson,
we're going to explore the concept of influence campaigns,
the role of misinformation and disinformation within them,
and strategies to combat these issues.
In the world of always on,
influence campaigns have become a powerful tool
for shaping public opinion and behavior.
These influence campaigns can also be a breeding ground
for misinformation and disinformation,
which can pose significant challenges to individuals,
our societies, and our democracies.
Influence campaigns are coordinated efforts
to affect public perception
or behavior towards a particular cause,
individual, or group.
These campaigns can be benign,
such as public health campaigns
encouraging widespread vaccination,
or malicious, such as efforts to spread false information
to manipulate public opinion during a democratic election.
In terms of cybersecurity,
our real focus here is going to be
on the malicious influence campaigns
that are usually performed by high-level adversaries,
like nation-state actors or hacktivist groups.
With the advent of social media,
the reach and impact of influence campaigns
have been amplified to allow messages
to spread rapidly and widely,
with little oversight or fact-checking
from trusted platforms.
This can lead to the rise
of misinformation and disinformation.
Although both of these involve the spread
of false information, there's distinction
between misinformation and disinformation
based on the underlying intent of the influence campaign.
Now, misinformation refers to false
or inaccurate information shared without harmful intent.
Misinformation often arises from honest mistakes
or misunderstandings that can spread rapidly
in era where information is shared
with the click of a button.
A real-world example occurred
during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic
when many individuals mistakenly believed
and shared that gargling warm salt water
or drinking a small amount of chlorine
could prevent or kill the spread of the virus.
This claim spread quickly across various social media
and messaging platforms and led many people to believe
and adopt these methods,
even though they were not scientifically proven
to be effective against COVID-19.
Disinformation, on the other hand,
involves the deliberate creation
and sharing of false information,
with the intent to deceive or mislead.
Disinformation is often used in influence campaigns
to manipulate public opinion, spread discord,
or undermine trust and institutions.
Another example,
adversary countries may try to spread rumors
about specific election candidates
in order to change public opinion
and try to manipulate election results.
For example, the Russian government
is expected to be behind a massive disinformation campaign
during the 2016 U.S. presidential election
between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
This malicious influence campaign,
according to the U.S. intelligence agencies,
involves Russian state-sponsored operatives
using social media platforms
to spread disinformation among American voters
so that the Russian government's
preferred presidential candidate could win the election.
To perform their disinformation campaign,
the nation-state operatives created fake accounts and pages
on platforms like Facebook and Twitter,
and then they used those accounts
to post politically divisive content and false information
to manipulate the public opinion of voters
in regards to the candidates.
After the election, a review of this disinformation campaign
highlighted the potential of disinformation
to influence the American democratic electoral process
and underscore the need for greater regulation
and oversight of online content, sponsored posts,
and online advertisements during the country's elections
and other large scale events that rely on an informed public
to make a collective decision for the country.
Another infamous influence campaign
is the Bitcoin scam of 2020
that occurred on the social media platform, Twitter.
In July 2020,
Twitter experienced a significant security breach
that resulted in one of the most notorious
influence campaigns involving cryptocurrency.
High-profile accounts,
including those of Barack Obama,
Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates,
and several cryptocurrency companies were hacked.
The attackers then used these compromised accounts
to post tweets that claim
that any Bitcoin sent to a specific address
would be doubled and returned
as part of a charitable gesture
on behalf of these high-profile personalities,
but this was in fact a scam.
By relying on the influence
that these high-profile individuals have over the public,
victims believed the scam was credible,
and this allowed various Twitter users
to be persuaded to send Bitcoin to the specified address,
and these users, of course, never received their Bitcoin
or the promised double Bitcoin gains back to their accounts.
This incident highlights the fact
that influence campaigns do not always have to be based
on political motivations, but they can also be used
as part of an attacker's desire to receive financial gain.
So remember, misinformation and disinformation
can have serious consequences
because they can undermine public trust and institutions,
fuel social divisions,
and even influence the outcomes of elections.
Misinformation refers to false or inaccurate information
shared without harmful intent.
Disinformation, on the other hand,
involves the deliberate creation
and sharing of false information,
with the intent to deceive or mislead.
By promoting media literacy, prioritizing fact-checking,
ensuring transparency and accountability,
and considering appropriate regulation,
societies can mitigate the threat
of misinformation and disinformation
and create a more informed public consciousness
across their country.