Security News > 2020 > July > Anti-NATO Disinformation Campaign Leveraged CMS Compromises

The influence campaign does not merely spread false news content on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, as other disinformation campaigns have done.

"We have dubbed this campaign 'Ghostwriter,' based on its use of inauthentic personas posing as locals, journalists, and analysts within the target countries to post articles and op-eds referencing the fabrications as source material to a core set of third-party websites that publish user-generated content," according to FireEye researchers in a Thursday analysis.

Another piece of fabricated content was letter purporting to be authored by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, which bolstered a narrative suggesting that NATO was planning to withdraw from Lithuania in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Many Ghostwriter operations have leveraged compromised websites, including legitimate news websites, to publish fabricated content, or used spoofed email accounts to engage in direct outreach and dissemination of content to NATO itself and national organizations and media outlets in the target countries," said researchers.

The topic of disinformation and influence campaigns is slated to be a big topic this year at Black Hat USA 2020, with keynotes surrounding election security and COVID-19 disinformation over the past few months.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/anti-nato-disinformation-campaign-leveraged-cms-compromises/157901/