The Putinization of the world order; new trend in Kremlin propaganda; history of Russian hacking, and more

The evolution of Russian subversion in cyber: A conversation with former GCHQ Chief David Omand (Cipher Brief)
Twitter is releasing a trove of known accounts and posts that it says were used to meddle in U.S. elections dating back to 2016.  According to the company, the data includes more than 4,600 accounts and more than 10 million tweets, photos, GIFs and broadcasts linked to Russia and Iran.  Many of those tweets are associated with the Internet Research Agency, the Russian-linked organization that has been indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection with election-related activities.
This comes as the U.S. is just weeks away from mid-term elections and to date, officials say there have been no substantive efforts to influence the vote in the way they saw in the 2016 Presidential election.
The risk of election meddling has been plaguing other nations as well.  Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly recently sat down with Cipher Brief expert David Omand, the former head of the UK’s Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ), to talk about how the UK is working with industry to protect itself against cyber threats and about how traditional Russian subversion techniques have easily migrated to the digital domain.

U.S. needs a global alliance against Russia’s cyberattacks (James Stavridis, Bloomberg)
The author, a former military commander of NATO, writes that “while Americans are of course aware of the Kremlin’s efforts to undermine U.S. democracy in the 2016 presidential election, Russia has done much the same across Europe as part of a larger comprehensive strategy.” In proposing a response, Stavridis identifies “four key tasks” for the U.S. and its allies: “We must begin by revealing the extent of the damage caused not only by Russian state activity, but by … private proxies as well. … In addition to simply revealing the extent of Russian activity, we need to respond forcefully and in concert with our allies. … Third, we need to rebuild our defensive structures,” including more resources devoted to cyber defenses. “Finally, the U.S. and its allies may need to retaliate in a creative way.” The author concludes by saying that the U.S. and its allies “will need a more steely approach in dealing with the new wave of Russian cyberattacks.”

InfoShum: The new trend in Kremlin propaganda (EUvsDisinfo)
There is truth and there is post-truth. There is information and there is disinformation. But in the grey zone between these categories, there is infoshum – Russian for “info-noise.”

The crisis of truth shakes American life to its core (David Shribman, Globe and Mail)
Lies, lies, lies.
It was one thing when American politicians made assertions that were palpably untrue: Barack Obama arguing in defiance of the fine print of his own proposal that patients were guaranteed to keep their own doctors under Obamacare; Donald Trump insisting against all evidence that his inauguration crowd was the biggest ever.
But it is quite another for the country to be bombarded from abroad by falsehoods in the weeks leading up to vital midterm congressional elections.
Revelations about a new Russian disinformation offensive through social media jolt the very foundation of American civic life, coming as they do amid growing concerns over how to evaluate the truth in politics, the media, even everyday life. The crisis of the truth is so profound that courses on media literacy are offered across the continent, from the University of British Columbia to the University of Pittsburgh.

A history of Russian hacking (Sophie Perryer, New Economy)
Just over a decade ago, Russia embarked on a global program of state-sponsored cyber warfare to prove its technological prowess. Its hacking operations have become more wide-ranging in scope and more damaging with every target