Active Measures #18 – A Newsletter of Political Warfare, Influence, and Information Campaigns Here are the top stories seen this week: – Hackers Leak Personal Info of over 100 German Politicians: Report | Janosch Delcker | Politico.eu – RM Broadcasting Battles Justice Department over Demands to Register as Foreign Agent | Jeff Mordock | The Washington Times […]Read More

Information Warfare Requires Personalized Weaponry by Rand Waltzman, January 1st, 2019, Signal Magazine, an AFCEA forum Up until the digital age, wars involved a limited number of combatants with clear identities battling within distinct boundaries visible on a map. These conflicts ended either with a victor or as a stalemate. But today’s information warfare does […]Read More

Why Putin Targets Minorities CSIS’s Suzanne Spaulding, Devi Nair and Arthur Nelson’s commentary dives into the WHY or what larger strategic purpose was Russia pursuing by targeting individuals of these groups? For the past year and a half, the Defending Democratic Institutions Project has studied Russia’s information operations targeting the public’s faith in the judiciary […]Read More

Weekly round-up of cognitive security-related articles from the Washington Post. Disinformation campaign targeting Roy Moore’s Senate bid may have violated law, Alabama attorney general says Craig Timberg and Tony Romm, Washington Post, December 27th, 2018 Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Thursday that his office is exploring whether disinformation tactics deployed against Republican Roy Moore during last […]Read More

Weekly round-up of cognitive security-related articles from the New York Times. LinkedIn Co-Founder Apologizes for Deception in Alabama Senate Race Scott Shane, New York Times, December 26th, 2018 Reid Hoffman, the tech billionaire whose money was spent on Russian-style social media deception in a Senate race last year, apologized on Wednesday, saying in a statement that he […]Read More

Government Responses to the Malicious Use of Social Media NATO’s Center of Excellence for Strategic Communication put forth several reports this month. Researchers from Oxford University worked on this report, Government Responses to the Malicious Use of Social Media which Click for the report There is no simple blueprint solution to tackling the multiple challenges […]Read More

We’re all Just Starting to Realize the Power of Personal Data Louise Matskus, December 28, 2018, Wired It’s no secret that companies like Facebook and Google scoop up personal information to serve users ads. But if anything became clear this year, it’s that consumers have a lot more to learn about what happens to their […]Read More

Industry Responses to the Malicious Use of Social Media NATO’s Center of Excellence for Strategic Communication put forth several reports this month. Researchers from Oxford University worked on this report, Industry Responses to the Malicious Use of Social Media which Click for the report 2016 was a defining moment for social media platforms. The ongoing […]Read More

Facts About Content Review on Facebook Today, Facebook responded to the New York Times article on the topic. The New York Times article is here and begins …Facebook is taking on the bonfires of hate and misinformation it has helped fuel across the world, one post at a time.  The social network has drawn criticism for undermining democracy […]Read More

Role of Communicators in Countering the Malicious Use of Social Media NATO’s Center of Excellence for Strategic Communication put forth several reports this month.  Lund University’s James Pamment and Henrik Agardh-Twetman authored, Role of Communicators in Countering the Malicious Use of Social Media.  Sweden has some experience on the topic and this blog recently highlighted […]Read More