DISINFO WAR — A Kremlin-backed disinformation campaign aimed at disrupting Western health care efforts in Africa has set off alarm bells within the global intelligence community, prompting the United States and its allies to launch a coordinated counteroffensive. U.S. envoy James Rubin, who heads the State Department's Global Engagement Center meant to expose and counter foreign state-backed disinformation attacks, told MC he met with American, British and Canadian counterparts at the Munich Security Conference to organize the first phase of a united front against Moscow’s disinformation globally. “We're in a phase of information warfare in the continent of Africa and around the world where the Kremlin believes that they can benefit from conducting these operations,” Rubin told MC. The news comes after the Munich Security Conference’s annual risk report showed a spike in global leaders’ concerns about AI-powered threats, with cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns also ranking highly among top security worries. With more than 50 elections worldwide this year, the revelations offer sobering lessons for democracies facing modern information warfare. — Operation details: Dubbed the “African Initiative,” Russia’s disinfo outfit recruits local African journalists and influencers to launder anti-Western narratives undermining U.S. and European medical assistance across the continent. It blurs the line between legitimate grievances over Western colonization and outright conspiracy theories blaming Western doctors for disease outbreaks — targeting millions across dozens of African countries. The local offices for the “African Initiative” had been uncovered in both Burkina Faso and Mali, in western Africa. — Early intervention: But Rubin believes the Africa-focused operation was detected early enough to prevent significant impact. After the first fabricated narratives blaming Western medics for disease outbreaks appeared, the U.S. rapidly alerted journalists, governments and health workers across Africa. This quick exposure is hoped to have blunted the disinformation before it could widely propagate. "We believe we have captured real disinformation so early that that will prevent the campaign from having significant success," Rubin said. — Wagner is alive: Rubin warned that operatives tied to Russia’s notorious Wagner Group “still exist” and remain dangerous. Some staff were recruited from the disbanded troll farms of late oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who already had disinfo officers scattered across the continent. And with many Russian operatives expelled from Europe due to the war in Ukraine, Africa may now be emerging as a key battleground for the global information war — and a testing ground for global attacks. And Russia already has a foothold in the continent’s disinformation landscape: A 2022 report from the Africa Center for Strategic Studies identified 23 campaigns across several countries in Africa, with 16 operations linked to the Kremlin. — Not easy work: Concerns about Russia's evolving tactics are further amplified by a new report from the Center for the Study of Democracy in Europe, which details Russia integrating evolving cyber capabilities into disinfo efforts along NATO’s eastern edge. The report found that the Kremlin is using a combination of open and hidden methods in its attacks. They mix military and civilian targets and try to twist a dagger into divisions of society for their advantage. And one way it launches those attacks has been by creating fake websites for foreign institutions. Rubin admitted combating these influence campaigns remains an uphill battle, citing the openness of Western social platforms versus closed systems in Russia and China. “The rest of the world can’t operate inside Russia and China,” Rubin said. “So there is a fundamental asymmetry here, for any damage they can do.” NSA DISCLOSURE — A prolific Chinese government-linked hacking group has not yet been deterred from attacking and burrowing into critical U.S. networks, despite a full-court press by the Biden administration to call them out. An official at the National Security Agency, not authorized to speak publicly as a matter of practice, told Maggie that Chinese hacking group Volt Typhoon is continuing its efforts. The comment was made following reporting from operational technology cybersecurity group Dragos that Volt Typhoon had targeted the emergency services networks of an unnamed large U.S. city. “Industry and incident response reporting reflects that new incidents tied to Volt Typhoon are happening every day – demonstrating that their activities have not slowed down or ceased since their activities have been called out publicly,” the official said. The NSA was among the U.S. and foreign allied agencies that signed on to an alert sent out earlier this month warning of Volt Typhoon’s malicious activities, and noting that the group had been in U.S. networks for “at least five years.” — Some background: That alert was put out the same week that top officials, including former NSA director Gen. Paul Nakasone, appeared before the House Select Committee on China to publicly warn of mounting cyber threats from Beijing to U.S. critical networks. These include military systems on the U.S. territory of Guam, along with hundreds of smaller routers on the mainland, according to the Justice Department. The official said that as a result of the ongoing threat, the NSA and other U.S. agencies will “continue to release public cybersecurity advisories” pertaining to Volt Typhoon in the future. — Beijing hits back: The Chinese government has denied the allegations of hacking, and instead called out the U.S. for similar actions. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press conference Monday that the “U.S. jumped to an unwarranted conclusion” about Chinese hacking efforts, describing this as a “distortion of facts.” “The U.S. needs to stop its worldwide cyber espionage and cyberattacks, and stop smearing other countries under the excuse of cybersecurity,” Mao said.
| 
Comments
Post a Comment