I read through as much of the Intelligence briefing paper referred to in your previous news release... wow! These are sophisitcated attacks and well resourced!
Russia's information warfare is really on the next level.
Notably, this paper is co-authoured by the Canadian cyber intelligence service too.
State-Sponsored Russian Media Leverages Meliorator Software for Foreign Malign Influence Activity
Summary
July 9, 2024
TLP:CLEAR
Product ID: AA24-191A
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF), in partnership with the Netherlands General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), Netherlands Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD), the Netherlands Police (DNP), and the
Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), (hereinafter referred to as the authoring organizations) are releasing this advisory to warn social media companies that Russian state-sponsored actors have leveraged the covert Meliorator software for foreign malign influence activity benefiting the Russian Government.
Affiliates of RT (formerly Russia Today), a Russian state-sponsored media organization, used Melioratorāa covert artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced software packageāto create fictitious online personas, representing a number of nationalities, to post content on X (formerly Twitter). Using this tool, RT affiliates disseminated disinformation to and about a number of countries, including the United States, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, and Israel.
Although the tool was only identified on X, the authoring organizationsā analysis of Meliorator indicated the developers intended to expand its functionality to other social media platforms. The authoring organizationsā analysis also indicated the tool is capable of the following:
- ļ§ Creating authentic appearing social media personas en masse;
- ļ§ Deploying content similar to typical social media users;
- ļ§ Mirroring disinformation of other bot personas;
- ļ§ Perpetuating the use of pre-existing false narratives to amplify malign foreign influence; and
- ļ§ Formulating messages, to include the topic and framing, based on the specific archetype of the bot.