The Counter Intelligence of Social Media

The Counter Intelligence of Social Media
by William Jackson, Blogger, Speaker and Educator

As the world embraces Social Media and moves forward in quantifying the
information online with platforms and tools that are readily accepted as
reliable and dependable, information is a valuable commodity in the world.
There is developing a blur of digital lines between what is real and unreal
when accessing information. There are increasing false reports of major
disasters growing from extremists groups like ISIS to draw attention,
falsely to events that they are claiming responsibility for.

The New York Times article telling of events at chemical companies
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html?_r=1
of explosions, terrorist’s activities and deaths orchestrated by ISIS on
US soil has been falsely created to confuse, disorient and even magnify
the strength of terrorist organizations seeking to destroy America.
Using Social Media platforms and tools along with movie production style
actors and borrowing film coverage of other non-related events ISIS is
now producing false intelligence activities, a counter intelligence move
to create fear in the United States.

Having attended Blogging While Brown a national Social Media conference
http://BloggingWhileBrown.com/and learning from some of the best Social
Media content creators, it can be seen intelligently how this could have been
pulled off. The Columbian Chemicals hoax showed how using and integrating
diverse tech resources a production of this magnitude could have been done.
In the area it is was executed – St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, this hoax was very
coordinated and a planned misinformation campaign.
Social Media accounts were created and key people were targeted for
a Social Media attack of misleading information. Showing that if you
understand Social Media and apply it correctly it is an effective tool
to misinform and distract. Causing confusion, mistrust and has the
potential to trigger chaos. The events achieved a certain level of confusion
for several hours until people like Duval Arthur, Director of the Office of
Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for St. Mary Parish, Louisiana,
figured out what was happening after multiple communications with personnel
in different areas of expertise.

Other events as in Atlanta, Georgia 2014 where false Ebola hashtags were
created #EbolaInAtlanta, shows that information can be created that is false
and create emotional and psychological distractions. Serious societal issues and
occurrences are being created that have and will continue to have profound
effects on the public’s trust and reliability of news and information.

Social Media even though has been around for years has created a level
of trust and reliability, but coupled with doubt because information can
be manipulated and changed. The worlds’ financial stability is sometimes
influenced by world events such as war, protests, the actions of groups
and individuals that are key players in global commerce and finance.
In today’s world economy a single change in petroleum prices can either
generate global celebration or make consumers worry about how much
a gallon of gas will cost in the next few hours.

In Russia, China, North Korea and other countries along with the
United States have and are training people for counter intelligence
on Social Media. The new pre-war conflicts will be digital manipulation
with hacking, counter intelligence and attacks on the hearts and minds
of citizens that rely on global information from the Internet.
Future conflicts may be the results of strikes at Social Media sites that
have the attention of people who are well away from the front lines
of battle fields, but intimately attached to what is happening and
influenced by Social Media content that is created by enemies
smart and intelligent when creating content in a digital environment.