20 Minutes on Fighting Disinformation: Influence operations, hacking and cyber threats

Simen Bakke, senior information security advisor in the Norwegian Police IT unit, will present how cyber threats such as hacking, data breaches and espionage can be used and combined to carry out influence operations. Influence operations are often done to influence the outcome of decisions. This can be, for example, political decisions and democratic elections, but it can also be more subtle and personal matters.

Cyber operations and hacking can also target organizations, journalists, political activists, politicians, etc. A well-known case is the target of Hillary Clinton's private e-mails during the run-up to the presidential elections in 2016. But since then, the use of methods to carry out cyber activity and hacking has increased significantly. The digital use of influence operations has grown in significance and importance to the threat actors. The lecture will present several examples to understand the phenomenon better.

Simen Bakke has an operational and strategic background from the police and other emergency organizations. In recent years, he has worked with preventive security and IT security in the police. In addition, Bakke is a member of the independent organization UTSYN – the forum for foreign affairs and security, which significantly focuses on influence operations, disinformation and cyber threats.