China’s Information Operations Are Heating Up
OPINION — “China views psychological warfare, centered on the manipulation of information to influence adversary decision-making and behavior, as one of several key components of […] More
Information Warfare
A General’s View of Future Information Wars
OPINION — U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is expanding its Military Information Support Operations (MISO) because in the current environment, “great power competition is about […] More
Don’t Lose Sight of the Russian Threat to American Democracy
It has now been 18 months since the November 2016 presidential election, during which the U.S. intelligence community believes Russia acted not only to interfere […] More
Russian Infowar Targets Transatlantic Bonds
The West’s coordinated expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal is a sign, perhaps, of […] More
The Latest
Could AI-Driven Info Warfare Be Democracy’s Achilles Heel?
Ripped out of the pages of science fiction novels, artificially intelligent, self-aware weapons systems could become a global existential threat, if harbingers of doom like […] More
Terabit Army: China Squares up on the Battlefield of Information
The People’s Republic of China has not fought a war since 1979, but the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been a very close student of […] More
Russia Aims to ‘Demoralize and Confuse Us’
Much has been written about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election – the theft and selective leaking of information, the attempt to tamper with state […] More
Russian Active Measures and the 2016 Election Hack
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Funny, that. The Soviet and Russian […] More
Exposing Russian Interference – The Value of Real-Time Forensics
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to exploit open and free U.S. cyberspace, which serves as a force multiplier for commerce and freedom of expression, […] More
Fixing the Foreign Agents Registration Act
The blowback over forcing Russian news outlets “Russia Today” (RT) and “Sputnik” to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) has raised questions about […] More
How Cyber Gray-Ops Became the New Norm in the Middle East
Cyber-enabled information operations in the Gulf, such as the one that seemingly spurred the ongoing feud between Qatar and its neighbors, represent the gray line […] More
Best Of: What Dirt Does Russia Have on You?
For this year’s Thanksgiving Day feature, The Cipher Brief revisits its coverage of the Kremlin’s strategic use of blackmail to silence dissent at home and […] More
WikiLeaks and the Trump Campaign: Another Tree in the Forest
The revelation that Donald Trump Jr. was in contact with WikiLeaks throughout the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign is just the latest in a long catalog […] More
Governments Turn Social Media into a Weapon Worldwide
Internet freedom took a nosedive over the last year, with governments doing more than ever to spread disinformation on social media and attacks in the […] More
Maskirovka: Russia’s Gray Zone Between Peace and War
While all militaries seek to lead enemies astray, Russia’s military doctrine of deception – known as maskirovka, Russian for “masking” or “camouflage” – is a […] More
How the Kremlin Wins by Confusing You
While Russia has become increasingly aggressive on the international stage, it has done so tactically, commonly engaging in plausibly deniable clandestine operations such as the […] More
Russia Expert Suggests “Nutrition Labels for Information”
Rivalry between Moscow and Washington is nothing new. A hundred years ago today, the October Revolution in St. Petersburg dismantled Russia’s tsarist autocracy and led […] More
Steel Yourself for a Long War Against Russian Disinformation
The 2016 presidential campaign was just a test run for Russia’s continuing use of disinformation on social media aimed at manipulating public thinking in the […] More
Russia Succeeds by ‘Playing to Our Deep Fears’
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, my old Committee, will hold a critical, open hearing today with the three largest social media content providers in […] More