Hacking Public Opinion

Presented at Black Hat USA 2020 Virtual, Aug. 6, 2020, 9 a.m. (60 minutes)

<p>Online disinformation has reached fever pitch: grifters pushing fake cures for COVID-19, nation states spinning pandemic conspiracies, domestic ideologues coordinating to push manipulative videos about presidential candidates. Malign actors are finding and exploiting divisions in our society using vulnerabilities in our information ecosystem. The flood of conflicting messages is overwhelming individuals and manipulating communities - and social networks are struggling to keep up.</p><p>Information operations aren’t new; they are conducted within the confines of the information environment at the actor’s disposal and evolve along with technology and media infrastructure. The rules are determined by the infrastructure – in this case, the features and algorithms of social platforms. The most sophisticated players -- nation states -- leverage not only social networks but network infiltration to influence, distract, and manipulate large communities of people.</p><p>This talk offers an overview of the mechanics of modern-day information operations. Using a deep dive into the tactics behind some of the most impactful recent operations, the speaker will demonstrate the ways in which hacking the information environment is similar and different from the kind of intrusions the audience normally deals with. We will conclude with a look ahead to the 2020 elections and a call-to-action for the audience to deploy their skills in the defense of democracy.</p>

Presenters:

  • Renée DiResta - Research Manager, Stanford Internet Observatory
    <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 10pt;">Renée DiResta is the Research Manager at Stanford Internet Observatory, a cross-disciplinary program of research, teaching and policy engagement for the study of abuse in current information technologies. Renee investigates the spread of narratives across social and media networks, with an interest in understanding how platform design and economic incentives intersect with user behaviors and crowd dynamics. Her work examines the ways in which different actors leverage the information ecosystem to exert influence, from domestic activists promoting health misinformation and conspiracy theories, to well-resourced full-spectrum information operations executed by state-sponsored actors. In 2018, at the behest of SSCI, she led an investigation into the Russian Internet Research Agency’s multi-year effort to manipulate American society and elections. A year later, she led an additional comprehensive investigation into influence capabilities that the GRU (Russian military intelligence) used alongside its hack-and-leak operations in the 2016 election. Renee has advised Congress, the State Department, and other academic, civic, and business organizations. She contributes to Wired and The Atlantic, and is 2019 Truman National Security Project security fellow, a 2019 Mozilla Fellow in Media, Misinformation, and Trust, a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar, and a Council on Foreign Relations term member. In past lives, Renee has been the co-founder of a global logistics startup, a venture capitalist at O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, an equity derivatives trader at Jane Street, and co-author of <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/d-FqC1wY98hp54NZPsLMkEw?domain=thehardwarestartup.com/" data-mce-href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/d-FqC1wY98hp54NZPsLMkEw?domain=thehardwarestartup.com/">The Hardware Startup: Building your Product, Business, and Brand</a>, published by O’Reilly Media.</span></p>

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