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Secondary Title
proquest
Abstract

Based in computational social science, this paper argues for cybersecurity to adopt more proactive social and cognitive (non-kinetic) approaches to cyber and information defense. This protects the cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral capacities requiredfor a democracy to function by preventing psychological apparatuses, such as confirmation bias and affective polarization, that trigger selective exposure, echo chambers, in-group tribalization, and out-group threat labelling. First, such policies advocate cyber hygiene through rapid alert detection networks and counterdisinformation command centers. Second, they advocate information hygiene through codes of online behavior stressing identity- and self-affirmation, as well as media literacy training and education programs. This supplements the bridging of the STEM and social sciences to present a policy framework for confronting information threats based on a blended understanding of computer science and engineering, social and cognitive psychology, political and communication science, and security studies.

Concluding remarks
Computational propaganda and state-sponsored disinformation campaigns are not new phenomena; they are age-old tactics of influence operations that evolved with the advent of information communication systems. Such sharp power tactics fit succinctly within existing Russian and Chinese policies for information security and unrestricted warfare, respectively. On the contrary, Western democracies that endorse a marketplace of ideas and open Internet have struggled to deter actors from engaging in manipulative interference. The fundamental values of democratic society make it difficult to counter disinformation, whether spreading in-person, online, or through the press, but dominant cybersecurity perspectives inherent in democratic defense and intelligence policy networks make it equally difficult to counter the online, network-focused, algorithmic spread of disinformation. This is because such perspectives are largely blind to the defensive psychological measures necessary to secure democratic processes, namely ensuring cyber and information hygiene.

Reference details

DOI
10.2307/27124997
Resource type
Miscellaneous
Year of Publication
2021
Publication Area
Civilian cybersecurity

How to cite this reference:

Social Cybersecurity: A Policy Framework for Addressing Computational Propaganda. (2021). https://doi.org/10.2307/27124997