Disinformation Protection Is as Crucial as Cybersecurity

Disinformation has been a big problem across the world for a number of years and it is a problem that has been exacerbated by the growth of social media over the past decade. News and information used to be more strictly controlled. Professional journalists and editors controlled what was published.

It was impossible to write and publish a book without convincing a publisher that you could write competently and had something worthwhile to say. Now anyone can publish a book and anyone can publish their own news stories from anywhere at anytime.

Information and news has been democratized. It is freed from the gatekeepers, but this also creates the issue of disinformation. This is where people deliberately share false information – often called ‘fake news.’

Fake news has mostly been used in politics. Supporters of one politician will share negative stories about another politician. They may not even be true. They may be completely invented – it doesn’t matter. Once the story goes viral and is shared many times, the damage is done.

However, as the industry analyst Gartner has noted in their strategic technology predictions for 2025, this is becoming an issue that technology executives also need to think about carefully.

What are people saying about your company and your products online? Are rival companies or dissatisfied customers deliberately creating false information about your business and sharing it?

Imagine the negative consequences for a food business if someone shares photos of a rat infested kitchen and suggests it is the kitchen in one of your most important restaurants or food delivery preparation areas. The photo doesn’t even need to be real – it can be created using AI image generating tools or it could just be a rat infestation that is entirely unconnected with the restaurant.

There is more... This article is published in full on the IBA Group blog...

CC Photo by Nikolett Emmert