Dispatch from the Alliance for Securing Democracy Our Take ASD’s David Salvo commented on espionage allegations levelled against American Paul Whelan, for ABC News. Salvo joined a number of intelligence experts in analyzing the veracity of Russia’s claims. ASD’s Bret Schafer discussed Russian disinformation tactics in a New York Times report: “One of the things […]Read More

Weekly round-up of cognitive security-related articles from the New York Times. Fake News as ‘Moral Imperative’? Democrats’ Alabama Move Hints at Ugly 2020 Jim Rutenberg, New York Times, January 13th, 2019 The Russian media was having way too much fun last week. They were downright gleeful over new reports that a group of Democrats had used online […]Read More

Weekly round-up of cognitive security-related articles from the Washington Post. Israel says it can foil foreign election meddling amid scare Aron Heller, Washington Post, January 9th, 2019 Israel’s Shin Bet security service assured the public Wednesday it was well prepared to thwart any foreign intervention in the country’s upcoming elections, after its director warned such efforts were […]Read More

How campaigns can protect themselves from deepfakes, disinformation, and social media manipulation by Lisa Kaplan, Brookings Institution, January 10th, 2019 It is a time of great danger for American political campaigns and their staff as advances in digital technology have created extraordinary threats. There are deepfake videos that falsify information and distort reality, false news […]Read More

Active Measures #19 – A Newsletter of Political Warfare, Influence, and Information Campaigns Here are the top stories seen this week: –Israel Pledges No Election Meddling as Speculation Swirls over Russia | Reuters –Massive Manipulation, Foreign Influence Campaign, and Cyber: The Threats to Israel’s Election | Amitai Ziv | Haaretz – Report: Iran is Likely […]Read More

Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook Researchers Andrew Guess, Jonathan Nagler, and Joshua Tucker published an article in Science Advances (Jan 9th, 2019) that has garnered some media attention.  Read an IPA blog post from last month from Pew, Age Matters Click on the heading above for the […]Read More

Weekly round-up of cognitive security-related articles from the New York Times. Facebook CEO Plans Public Debates About Tech for 2019 Personal Challenge Reuters in the New York Times, January 8, 2019 Facebook Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday he will host a series of public discussions about the future of technology in society as […]Read More

Weekly round-up of cognitive security-related articles from the Washington Post. Secret campaign to use Russian-inspired tactics in 2017 Ala. election stirs anxiety for Democrats Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Aaron C. Davis and Elizabeth Dwoskin, January 6, 2019 A secret effort to influence the 2017 Senate election in Alabama used tactics inspired by Russian disinformation teams, including the […]Read More

Dispatch from the Alliance for Securing Democracy Our Take On December 28th, ASD and partner C4ADS published a case study on the First Czech-Russian Bank, exposing how the private Russian bank became a key vector for Russian interference in Europe, exploiting campaign finance loopholes and other structural weaknesses in Western democracies to pursue Russian foreign […]Read More

Frederick Kempe of the Atlantic Council, highlights the Atlantic Council’s top ten for 2018. Cognitive security-related items include: #ElectionWatch – The Digital Forensic Research Lab’s partnership with Facebook on #ElectionWatch merits a spot on the top ten as a leading example of how the Council is deploying digital technologies to not only combat disinformation but also […]Read More