Irish cybersecurity chief warns of link between cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns

NCSC director Richard Browne tells the 'Irish Examiner' today: ‘Often the same people who conduct cyberattacks also conduct ... the disinformation or other type of active measure type campaigns.' Picture: Maxwells

Ireland’s top cybersecurity chief has warned of a link between cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns.

Richard Browne, director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said his office was developing the country’s first counter-disinformation campaign and was working with the new Electoral Commission, which, he said, had “quite extensive” powers in this area.

A report from the EU cybersecurity agency, ENISA, said that it expects disinformation campaigns by Russia and China to increase, along with espionage activities.

In an interview today with the Irish Examiner, Mr Browne said he found it “very interesting” that, for the most part, Ukraine has been “highly successful” in defending itself against Russian cyberattacks.

The NCSC is involved in combating disinformation campaigns from abroad.

“The simple answer is we do, and we always have,” Mr Browne said. “And it’s for a couple of reasons, but the most obvious one is that very often the same people who conduct cyberattacks also conduct, in that part of the same organisation or some broader organisation, the disinformation or other type of active measure type campaigns.

“It’s something that has happened more and more in the recent past, this increasing correlation between cyber and disinformation/hybrid activity.”

Mr Browne said social media companies have called out disinformation campaigns that target Irish citizens and said the NCSC has assisted social media companies.

Last September, Tiktok said it had taken action against a “covert influence operation”, consisting of 72 inauthentic accounts in Ireland that had 94,000 followers.

The accounts targeted users by “hyper-posting” (or spamming) content and comments “with divisive views related to nationalism” and to “intensify social conflict”.

Mr Browne said Ireland was developing a national counter-disinformation strategy under the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media and that the NCSC was involved.

He also said the new Electoral Commission, established last February, had “quite extensive powers” in relation to disinformation under the Electoral Reform Act 2022.

“We’re working closely with the Electoral Commission, and have been for a while, as they develop their own capabilities. Our role [in the area of disinformation] and their role will evolve.”

Last January, Ireland joined the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, which is in Helsinki, with disinformation being among the hybrid threats. 

Hybrid attacks have targeted the maritime sector, both on sea and sub-sea, with the threat posed to sub-sea internet cables and pipelines in Irish-controlled waters a top concern.

The report of the Consultative Forum on International Security Policy, published recently, said these cables were of “critical strategic importance” and were “vulnerable to attack”. It called for greater investment in this sector.

Mr Browne said there was a “huge amount of activity” in this area in Ireland.

The NCSC has “an interest and a role” in this area, he said, not least because of its “national security” function but also because it sits within the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications.