Dan graduated from Imperial College London and holds a Master of Engineering in Software Engineering. He joined Kaspersky Lab in 2014 and currently holds the position of Security Researcher. His work focuses on developing threat intelligence systems, processing big data and creating new technologies to fight advanced persistent threats. When not meddling around with network cables or bricking routers he can be found playing board games and snowboarding the slopes across the world.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Disinformation, Public Opinion Swinging and False Flags

Who should you vote for? Or, should you vote in the first place? Did you hear the latest news about … ?

We live in a complex world and, frankly, sometimes handling reality might seem like a very complicated task. We enjoy spending more and more time online, just because the ‘offline’ is a bit old-fashioned. But then, everywhere we go, from the local pharmacy to the voting booth, we are surrounded by information and sometimes, disinformation. Starting from fake news, orchestrated interviews to divisive content and straight up mass opinion manipulation. Unfortunately these techniques are not at all new. Throughout history, unverified but plausible-sounding rumors have changed the faith of battles or brought down empires, whether or not the stories had anything to do with the truth.

During this talk we will be touching on some cases of disinformation and discuss their impact over our societies. The stakes now are higher than ever and everyone wants to be part of the game.

In today’s world, fighting disinformation poses great challenges. Tomorrow, it is going to be even more difficult to distinguish what’s valid and what’s not. We’ll try to decipher the history and further present real-live cases of disinformation, public opinion swinging or false flags, while trying to find out ways to protect ourselves against these methods. Because the failure to do so can cost us our democracy or even our freedom.