“The enemies of liberal democracy hack our feelings of fear and hate and vanity, and then use these feelings to polarize and destroy" - Yuval Noah Harari.
The security of our news and media information systems matters as much as the security of personal and commercial information systems. "Information warfare" shows that harms can arise even when there is no unauthorized access, when tools are used as intended, and when there’s no compromise of user privacy settings. In both cases of cybersecurity and news/media security, the threats are asymmetric, the tools readily available, usable for many purposes, and threats are easily disguised as benign. Whether it is a business conference used for economic espionage, or a product order form email used to inject malware, the tools of everyday information exchange are capable of use as a weapon.
Robust resistance to phishing and social engineering, as well as “fake news” and disinformation campaigns is unlikely to be fully achieved on the basis of refinements to the tools (including information platforms). It will require users to, to the extent possible, acquire greater understanding of themselves as sorters and interpreters of information. If there is a territory to explore in addressing issues of information warfare, let it be the territory of the mind.

Location

United States

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