94404 - Intelligence and Influence

N. Lygeros

It’s known that a way to influence for example an election, is to discover vulnerabilities in the protection of what it’s considered as a target. This kind of activity isn’t something which is strange. In fact it’s more or less classical and maybe normal at a certain level. That’s why any serious agency has to keep this in mind in order to fix the problem at least of the near future. It’s possible to imagine that hackers can conduct reconnaissance of major medics outlets. The target can be unique but the ways to get a result can be many. They can have an activity against a campaign but also encourage protests of a policy towards a country. There is nothing strange in all this. By the way if the target is related to a specific timing, then we have to consider as something which is predictable to observe a higher activity as we are more and more near the event which is the target. This influence can be also a strategic mix of multiple ways which do not belong necessarily to one country. This is why the problem is complex even if you have already your intelligence which studies its core. A presidential campaign is always important but sometimes it can be crucial for the future. So, it’s always a potential problem for strategy.