IGF 2021 WS #279 Fighting disinformation as a cybersecurity challenge

Time
Tuesday, 7th December, 2021 (13:30 UTC) - Tuesday, 7th December, 2021 (15:00 UTC)
Room
Ballroom A

Organizer 1: Lucien M. CASTEX, AFNIC
Organizer 2: Samih Souissi, Arcep
Organizer 3: Rayna Stamboliyska, RS Strategy

Speaker 1: BERNAT Laurent, Intergovernmental Organization, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Michael Zinkanell, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Anastasiya Kazakova, Private Sector, Eastern European Group

Additional Speakers

Mohamed El Dahshan, Private Sector, African Group

Viktoras Daukšas, Civil Society, Eastern European Group

 

Moderator

Rayna Stamboliyska, Private Sector, Eastern European Group

Online Moderator

Lucien M. CASTEX, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Rapporteur

Samih Souissi, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Format

Round Table - Circle - 90 Min

Policy Question(s)

Cybersecurity practices and mechanisms: What are the good cybersecurity practices and international mechanisms that already exist? Where do those mechanisms fall short and what can be done to strengthen the security and to reinforce the trust?
Ensuring a safe digital space: How should governments, Internet businesses and other stakeholders protect citizens, including vulnerable citizens, against online exploitation and abuse?

Despite increasing evidence, little effort is made to bridge the artificial gap between disinformation and cybersecurity. The topic remains a hotbed for tech and policy discussions, with many cybersecurity experts disregarding it. Intentional or not, the manipulation of facts and their spread online is a digital risk that the cybersecurity community needs to tackle. The destruction of 5G towers to storming the US Capitol appear perhaps as a distant feat. However, disinformation has increasingly come to channel malware. Data manipulation is a form of disinformation that negatively impacts people, businesses and public services alike. Disinformation and cybersecurity experts need to get together and work with policy makers to address those emerging hybrid threats hollistically.

SDGs

4. Quality Education
10. Reduced Inequalities
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Targets: Our proposal aims to break knowledge barriers and bridge skill gaps. Furthermore, the different challenges and threats we tackle need to be addressed for a positive environment to exist, and for peacebuilding and peacekeeping efforts to flourish.

Description:

Anti-vax, COVID-19 "fabricated in a lab" conspiracy theories, QAnon,... Those are but just a few of the recent developments stemming from widespread disinformation. The rapid spread of newsy nuggets that are too resource-expensive to proof check has transformed from a marginal nuisance into a tool to inflict harm for individuals and societies alike. A more recent but rapidly growing worrisome trend is disinformation campaigns becoming the pet tool of many hostile actors carrying out cyberattacks. Those trends raise many questions about what is at stake with technology for the global society today. A flourishing adtech industry permits surveillance capitalism to flourish and new types of fraud to materialise. Despite a massive surge from EU legislators to push for a more constraint platform regulation - through the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, most notably -, much remains to be done to balance between free expression of diverse political opinions and a hammering of questionable analysis. And none of these policy initiatives addresses the scarcity of details that fuels a disinformation wave. Yet, despite increasing evidence, little effort is made to bridge the artificial gap between disinformation and cybersecurity. The topic remains a hotbed for tech and policy discussions, with many cybersecurity experts disregarding it. Intentional or not, the manipulation of facts and their spread online is a digital risk that the cybersecurity community needs to tackle. The destruction of 5G towers to storming the US Capitol appear perhaps as a distant feat. However, disinformation has increasingly come to channel malware. Data manipulation is a form of disinformation that negatively impacts people, businesses and public services alike. These trends showcase the growing overlap between disinformation and cybersecurity. They also leverage on the changing mission of cybersecurity: defend and protect beyond the technical underbelly. Thus, the panel aims to kick off a broader discussion that bridges the gaps between disinformation experts, cybersecurity professionals, and the defence sector 'hybrid threats' body of work. A whole-of-society security strategy requires integrated approaches that tackle the overlap of disinformation and cybersecurity holistically.

Expected Outcomes

This panel intends to contribute a tangible future outlook that streamlines the framing of the cooperation on disinformation as a cybersecurity challenge. This session aims to overcome the current ambiguity in policies from both an EU and a global perspective.

We aim at facilitating an inclusive discussion amongst speakers (both onsite and online), audience members, and online participants. In order to ensure the session format is used in the best possible manner: The panel of experts will share their expertise and debate sitting in a roundtable format to facilitate an open discussion both online and onsite and take advantage of the hybrid format of 2021 IGF. The online and onsite moderators will open the discussion with a presentation of the rules of the panel and a strong focus on facilitating hybrid participation. Considering the Covid-19 crisis, some of the speakers - as well as a number of attendees - will be online making it of key importance to facilitate an inclusive discussion amongst online and onsite participants. Questions from the public will be collected ahead of time as well as during the discussions and at least 30 minutes will be allowed for an interactive session of questions/comments from the audience. The organizers will explore the use of visuals and interactive tools to animate the session and facilitate the discussion. We will use the Slido app to increase audience interaction and engage the session’s participants. The tool allows for an easy way to manage polling, discussion trends and Q&A. Platform-agnostic icebreakers will occur to ensure participants feel equally involved in the discussions. Preparation: - Several preparatory calls will be organised for all speakers, moderators and co-organisers in advance of the workshop so that everyone has a chance to meet, share views and prepare for the session. - A preparatory session will also be organized during the French Internet Governance Forum which will be held in October 2021. - If need be, a preparatory session may also be organized during the Paris Peace Forum/Paris Call yearly edition in November 2021.

Online Participation

 

Usage of IGF Official Tool. Additional Tools proposed: The organizers will explore the use of visuals and interactive tools to animate the session and facilitate the discussion. We will use the Slido app to increase audience interaction and engage the session’s participants. The tool allows for an easy way to manage polling, discussion trends and Q&A.