Cyber cold war gets hotter
Disinformation has always been an effective tactic in warfare, and 2016 just might have seen its most effective deployment yet. APC’s editor Dan Gardiner weighs in.
Given that we live in the information age, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that — as Edward Snowden’s NSA document leaks have shown — a cyber cold war has been rumbling along behind the scenes for as almost as long as the web’s been around. And in the age of the cloud, where more and more personal, government and corporate data is stored online, the stakes have got even higher.
By all measures, 2016 represents a new escalation in that conflict. If US intelligence sources are correct, there was a concerted Russian campaign to destabilise the 2016 US presidential race and those efforts were tilted towards getting Donald Trump elected. Up until now, behind-the-scenes theft of information — like intelligence or corporate and state secrets — has formed the backbone of this cold war. But this last year has seen a new tactic employed in the online arena: disinformation or, as it’s been dubbed, ‘fake news’. By all indicators, its been exceptionally successful when it comes to sowing chaos in the West.
It’s impossible to say exactly how much of an influence fake news stories had on the election, but there are some alarming figures around how much more vigorously fake stories are shared on social media.
Of course, not all fake news has been crafted to deliberately steer opinions — as with any disaster, there are plenty of opportunists who’ve just turned up to make a buck in the chaos. Many of the most popular sources of this disinformation are ‘news’ outlets that deliberately fabricate stories to get clicks, picking and mixing topics and targets to get people outraged enough to read the story.
The problem’s garnered enough attention that it’s galvanised tech giants like Twitter, Google and Facebook to do something about it — see Tech Brief on page 12.
Of course, the best vaccination against disinformation is, as it’s always been, a healthy dose of incredulity. If you see a headline on Facebook that immediately causes outrage, chances are that it’s been deliberately crafted to do just that (and it probably plays fast and loose when it comes to little things like ‘facts’). So stay sceptical, check the credibility of the source and don’t be afraid to call out bullshit when you see it.