GUEST ESSAY: The three horsemen of cyber risks: misinformation, disinformation and fake news

Industry 4.0 has brought about a metamorphosis in the world of business. The new revolution demands the integration of physical, biological and digital systems under one roof.

Related: Fake news leveraged in presidential election

Such a transformation however, comes with its own set of risks.

Misleading information has emerged as one of the leading cyber risks in our society, affecting political leaders, nations, and people’s lives, with the COVID-19 pandemic having only made it worse.

Misleading information – comprised of the three horseman of cyber risks: misinformation, disinformation, and fake news — also affects something we rarely stop to consider: business.

The fake news “infodemic” that spread alongside the COVID-19 pandemic also affected the finance sector. For instance, during the lockdown period of 2020, there was a huge surge in fake news and illegal activity related to the financial and other markets. Financial firms had to train their staff to deal with fraudulent online schemes and reports.

Deliberate spreading of disinformation has also been responsible for swaying the outcome of elections. Cyber attackers have used misleading information on social media for procuring campaign finances as well as personal and financial information of people and corporations. These actions undermine a nation’s security and make them vulnerable to geopolitical risks.

So, how do organizations prepare against such threats? I recently completed a new study on this very topic for Business Horizons, published by Elsevier. In my paper, I map out the risk factors associated with misinformation, disinformation and fake news—proposing practical ways to manage risks in the parlance of business.

We need to pay attention to the quality of information disseminated into the world, now more than ever, as spreading misinformation has become a lot easier with the advent of digital transformation. My research attempts to bridge the divide between academic research and real-world practice of cyber risk management.

To deal with misleading information, businesses and authorities need to establish cybersecurity practices and policies that can evolve and adapt to the multifaceted cyber threats. Executives and leaders should be trained to recognize cyber threats when they see one. To enable faster recognition, firms need to embrace modern computing software that fits their work criteria and can detect, report, and effectively manage cyber threats.

Anti-misinformation strategies, such as having human fact-checkers for websites or artificial intelligence for bot detection on social media, could be used to prevent the damage caused by propagation of misleading information. Partnerships between private and public sectors can also mitigate cyber risks by forming a united front with better cyber defenses and funds to invest in cyber security technologies.

All in all, my study provides a primer on the risks associated with misleading information in the sphere of business and the ways to avoid them, highlighting the fact that businesses are not immune to them either.

About the essayist: Dr. Pythagoras N. Petratos is a lecturer in finance at Coventry University Business School at the University of London in Coventry, England.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from The Last Watchdog authored by bacohido. Read the original post at: https://www.lastwatchdog.com/guest-essay-the-three-horsemen-of-cyber-risks-misinformation-disinformation-and-fake-news/