Before the federal election: How safe is the new election? – Warning about disinformation

Before the federal election: How safe is the new election? – Warning about disinformation

Before the federal election
How safe is the new election? – Warning about disinformation






It’s not just people who throw foam at politicians or tear down posters that concern the security authorities before the federal election. They also focus on hackers, bots and trolls.

Before the upcoming federal election, the security authorities are making sure to identify and contain possible cyber attacks, foreign influence and the spread of disinformation as early as possible. According to information from security circles, there is currently no information that would suggest a concrete threat to the early federal election on February 23rd.

THE ELECTION: According to those responsible, the election process itself is not at risk – thanks to the slow digitization of the German administration. Because here the crucial steps are still carried out analogue. The Federal Returning Officer, Ruth Brand, is supported by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) in securing the digital transmission of the state results and determining the provisional election results. The final election result is based on the minutes of the electoral boards anyway.

DISINFORMATION: A particularly striking example of political disinformation is the “Doppelgänger” campaign uncovered in 2022. An attempt was made here to spread Russian narratives about the Ukraine war using deceptively real-looking online portals or websites of well-known media. This was obviously also about questioning democratic values ​​through deliberate misinformation on the internet and social media.

After the campaign was launched, fake websites imitating websites of well-known media or institutions were noticed in several EU countries. At the end of July 2023, the EU placed five organizations linked to the Russian state and seven people as those responsible on a sanctions list. The campaign also included fake quotes placed in the mouths of entertainment celebrities and spread across social networks.

According to security circles, the Greens, the SPD and the CDU/CSU have recently been the focus of disinformation campaigns.

DEEPFAKES: New developments in artificial intelligence are opening up additional opportunities for people and secret services seeking to manipulate public opinion. For example, at the beginning of December, the Green Party’s top candidate, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck, was the target of a disinformation campaign set up with the help of AI. A report about allegations of abuse appeared on a website that was no longer accessible shortly afterwards. This also included a video manipulated with AI. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees the report with the false allegations as a targeted attempt to discredit the politician.

It is often very difficult for laypeople to recognize such counterfeits. Deepfake tools can be used to create artificial voice recordings that can hardly be distinguished from the real voice. In the case of the fabricated allegations against Habeck, as is often the case in such cases, the traces point towards Moscow. Against the background of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia probably has the greatest and most obvious interest in influencing the election in its own interests, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution announced in November.

HACKER ATTACKS: Here, the security authorities are preparing, among other things, for “hack and leak” operations. These are cyberattacks that involve gaining access to internal communications in order to later publish them, often with the aim of embarrassing those affected or fueling political debates on certain topics.

Last year, for example, a Russian intelligence service intercepted a Webex switch of four high-ranking Air Force officers. The recording was made public. The officers had discussed operational scenarios for the German cruise missile.

An example of “hack and leak” for the purpose of influencing elections occurred in the USA in 2016. A Russian hacker group stole emails from the Democratic Party. The emails were then published shortly before the election and damaged Hillary Clinton, the then opponent of current President Donald Trump.

A cyber attack on the CDU became known in June. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Office for Information Security then began investigations. Among other things, the central member file was affected. It is suspected that Chinese hackers could be behind the attack. However, according to German experts, China has so far been more interested in classic espionage for the purpose of obtaining information, rather than in publishing captured data.

The SPD fell victim to a cyber attack in 2023. At that time, email accounts at the party headquarters were hacked. The federal government blamed a Russian military intelligence unit for this attack. The Foreign Office summoned a high-ranking Russian diplomat in May and recalled the German ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, to Berlin for a week of consultations.

ALGORITHMS: By specifically displaying content based on user profiles – so-called microtargeting – election advertising or disinformation can be directed to specific target groups. It can also influence public opinion, as algorithms often give preference to polarizing, emotional content. So-called social bots increase this effect. Social bots are automated programs that operate in social networks, post comments and simulate human behavior. They also create and distribute their own content.

Around a month before the election, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) invited the operators of several platforms. Among other things, it was about the question of algorithms. Faeser’s message: “The major Internet platforms bear responsibility for what happens on their platforms.”

dpa

Source: Stern

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