US Develops Software to Wage Propaganda War
The US Central Command (Centcom) has purchased software that is designed to create false online personas for what it calls "information operations". The software allows one member of the US Military to control up to ten fake accounts, to mimic civilians living in other countries. Each fake profile contains background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent.
The profiles are also masked with IP addresses that make them look like they are being posted from one of several designated locations. A Centcom spokesperson said that the technology supports classified blogging on foreign language websites, in a bid to counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda outside the US. The software could potentially be used for countering disinformation campaigns, military deception, computer network operations or hacking.