INFORMATION WARFARE ON THE WEB IN THE MIDDLE EAST KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Source: Vice INFORMATION WARFARE ON THE WEB IN THE MIDDLE EAST KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

1 BRINGING WEB SCIENCE TO THE MIDDLE EAST KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Interdisciplinary Research Unit In Web Science Created in 2002 at Beirut’s Saint-Joseph University Faculty of Humanities KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Interdisciplinary Research Unit In Web Science Digital Transformation of Middle Eastern Societies New paradigms – Arab Spring – Conflicts – ISIS KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

The Call For a Science of the Web Berners-Lee Interdisciplinarity (The 2 magics) Mixed methods (Data + Social) New tools to understand the impact of the Web on Society From power laws to people (Social Machines) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

The Manifesto For Web Science Web Science 2010 – Raleigh, NC. Susan Halford, Cathy Pope, Leslie Carr KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

The Manifesto For Web Science Understanding the web requires knowledge and expertise from the social and human sciences KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

The Manifesto For Web Science Computer science is only one vantage point KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

The Manifesto For Web Science Co-constitution of technology and society The Web impacts society and society impacts the Web KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

The Manifesto For Web Science Heterogeneous actors (ANT – Latour) Radical symmetry between humans and non-humans. “the bureaucrat in the standards agency is just as important as the servers at Google or HTTP”. KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

The Manifesto For Web Science Social and cultural construction of technology (SCOT) Ignoring particular functionalities, or developing alternative uses, and produce outcomes that may differ significantly from the original intentions for a given innovation. KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Consequences For Web Science Web Science must be the genuine intersection of discipline It cannot be allowed to be a sociology or a computer science of the web KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Consequences For Web Science Web Science must look both ways to see how the web is made by humans and how humans are made by the web. KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Consequences For Web Science Web Science must follow all the actors and trace the networks implicated in the web in the broadest sense and understand the effects of these networks. KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Consequences For Web Science Web Science must be a critical discipline. It must develop theoretical thinking and push towards critical, political social theory, to challenge the web and society. KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Consequences For Web Science Web Science must move beyond narrow epistemologies and methodologies to enable a science which can examine and explain both micro and macro phenomena. KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Web Science In the Arab Near East Context Against Prescriptive Language ( Lawrence of E-Rabia – Burris 2000) Contextualization against New Orientalism (Anderson 2003) Myopia of Networks (Etling 2009) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

2 INFORMATION WARFARE ON THE WEB KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Information Warfare A very large concept as old as war! Propaganda – Disinformation – Demoralization Manipulation – Deception – Denial of information PsyOps KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Information Warfare On the Web The Internet is a new battlefield Information Warfare is part of Cyberwarfare KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Information Warfare On the Web The Web is the Internet’s Information System Multiplier effect? Web as a collateral asset? KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Information Warfare On the Web Difference between attacks that target the Internet infrastructure and Information Warfare tactics and tools KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Researching Information Warfare On the Web Is Information Warfare always asymmetric? Where does it take place? What about the BTKP rule? Weapons of mass annoyance? KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Researching Information Warfare On the Web 1 – Objectives / Strategies? 2 – Types of attacks / Contents / Targets / Actions? 3 – Actors (Groups, Armies, Businesses, Individuals) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Researching Information Warfare On the Web Observation – Identification – Measure Measuring Digital Wars: Learning from the experience of peace research and arms control. Giacomello (2003). KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Researching Information Warfare On the Web Observation KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

1 - Observation • Define Context – Official Places, reference sources, players, historical background, virtual borders, strategic assets, obvious targets, etc. • Identifying sources – Specialized websites and forums – Official declarations and claims – Incidents / Media Reports – Influencers, gatekeepers, communities KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

2 - Identification • Existence of the action – Identifying traces • Qualitative (Reference of action. Ex: Hashtag) – Permanent tracking • Quantitative (Distortions in usage) – Regular data extraction and analysis – Availability of technology by attacker – Damage done (Observed or reported) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

3 - Evaluation • Storage / Coding / Analysis – Descriptors – Attacker / Target – Type of attack – Type of content – Damage – Strategic objectives – Regrouping KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

3 CONTEXTS KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 1 2006 War Lebanon 30 days of asymmetric warfare between the State of Israel and the Lebanese Islamic Resistance (Best Poster – ACM Web Science 2011 - Koblenz) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 1 2006 War Lebanon Megaphone software (Giyus.org) Web Pages defacement (Al Manar TV) PsyOps / Deceptive contents (Satellite photos) Denunciation Websites (All4Lebanon) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 1 2006 War Lebanon No official strategy - Innovation Individual initiatives – Hackers Units Limited impact - Symbolism KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 2 2011 Civil War in Syria Information warfare in Syria The Web between Liberation and Repression KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 2 2011 Civil War in Syria Repression strategy follows uprising in Egypt and Tunisia First official Electronic Army (SEA) – 122 defacement attacks Fake accounts on social media (Honey pots) – 1200 arrests KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 3 2012 The Gaza War Information Warfare on the Web as an official military strategy KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 3 2012 The Gaza War Emerging actors (Al-Qassam Cyber Fighters - Anonymous) Official strategy to win the IWW (Legitimization - Hasbara ) Citizen Journalism KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 3 2014 ISIS Global Information Operations Strategy by a terrorist organization (Best Poster – ACM Web Science 2015 - Oxford) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 3 2014 ISIS Building audience and support (Al Hayat Media Center) Framing politico-military actions (Live tweeting) Marketing the Caliphate (Differentiation) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Context 3 2014 ISIS Building audience and support (Al Hayat Media Center) Framing politico-military actions (Live tweeting) Marketing the Caliphate (Differentiation) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

At last, Some numbers! 4 contexts studied in 6 years Around 2500 attacks (6 groups) 67 different sources KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

1 - Volumes Lebanon War Syria Denial of Denial of information information Propaganda 4% 9% 11% Disinformation Propaganda Deception 18% 21% 21% Disinformation 8% Deception Demoralization Manipulation 49% 5% 36% Demoralization Manipulation 10% 8% Gaza Isis Denial of information Denial of 4% information 15% Propaganda Deception 18% 17% Propaganda Deception 44% Manipulation 21% 14% Disinformation 26% Demoralization Manipulation Demoralization Disinformation 8% 15% 5% 13% KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

1 – Example of sources: Hackmageddon KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

1 – Example of sources: Opennet.org (SEA) KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

2 – We just scratched the surface! • Very complex research • Exploratory • Understanding the context is essential – Few sources – References are difficult to evaluate – Hard to get first hand information • On actions and intentions • On actors • Need to create new tools for observation KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

Thank you • Webscience.blogs.usj.edu.lb • Stefan.bazan@gmail.com KEEWARD KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION