Thriving 'disinformation-as-a-service' market could make smearing corporate rivals easy

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.cyberscoop.com/disinformation-research-recorded-future/

By Sean Lyngaas
CYBERSCOOP
September 30, 2019

While disinformation campaigns are often associated with governments, new 
research indicates there is a robust, easy-to-navigate market for anyone 
looking to buy their own propaganda arms.

It is “alarmingly simple and inexpensive” to launch a sophisticated 
disinformation campaign, analysts from threat-intelligence company Recorded 
Future concluded after studying the issue. “Disinformation services are highly 
customizable in scope, costing anywhere from several hundreds of dollars to 
hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more depending on the client’s needs.”

The analysts set up their own fake company and commissioned disinformation 
projects from two different “threat actors” active on Russian-language forums. 
One of the hired hands generated positive press for the fake company, while the 
other pushed out smears. A network of inauthentic social media accounts posted 
articles about the fake company that gained traction on news sites. Like any 
effective disinformation campaign, the social media interactions included a mix 
of bots, trolls and real people drawn in by the digital waves the fictitious 
firm was making.

[...]

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