Cybersecurity: Misinformation and Disinformation

Throughout the last few years, cybersecurity and cybersecurity strategies have drastically altered to combat data breaches and hackers trying to access private information, but did you know that one way it evolved was simply due to the overwhelming amount of information posted online by regular internet users?

Enter misinformation and disinformation; two tactics that are now employed very easily thanks to the plethora of "fake news" and faulty tabloid headlines that are written as clickbait to attract the attention of social media users and website browsers. With an abundance of all of this information on the internet and there not being any signs of incorrect information slowing down, we've entered a new age of fighting cyberattacks; by overloading wrong information.

Misinformation and disinformation, while similar, do have one key difference; misinformation is the accidental or unknowing spread of incorrect information no matter how 'almost factual' or beyond the truth the content is. The important part here is that misinformation is spread without proper intent to do so; users who share content with incorrect data or information are finding themselves misinforming the general public, or those who read their social media posts at least, which leads to the misinformation cause.

Disinformation however, is the spread of incorrect information and data with intent to do just that; lie or upload false statements for any means necessary. Whether it's for political intent, cybersecurity strategy, or because someone just wanted to lie over the internet, the act is classified as disinformation, something that has become very popular over the last few centuries through different means such as espionage and propaganda.

Disinformation campaigns have been around just as long as misinformation campaigns have been, the only difference being intent, but nevertheless both are methods that are being picked up as a cybersecurity strategy and defense mechanism to mitigate people from finding out the truth. Whether the campaign seeks to inflate profits, deflate statistics, or just simply cover up a piece of information, it's easy to say that these strategies have become modernized in the world of technology.