“Fake News”, misinformation, has been in the News recently.

2016 was the year when deliberately misleading “news” stories, used to manipulate public opinion and to directly influence events, really came to the fore. So, what has this to do with businesses, and why, as an Information Security Specialist am I interested in it?

It can be a significant threat to a business – either directly, where fake news has been made to damage a company or influence it’s share price, or as a result of a different attack.

This relates to the circulation of “incorrect information” that is a threat to the business – analogous to the use of incorrect information within the business. The key difference is that the incorrect information is not held and managed by the business.

So, how do you mitigate the risk?

• Be able to respond quickly to fake news:
  Have a Response Plan, know in advance who will be involved in the response, and how you will co-ordinate and manage this.
• A credible and engaging reply to the story.
  This will depend on the nature of the threat facing you.
• You also want to ensure that any insurance you have covers such events to mitigate any significant financial loss or damage to the business.

A major problem in addressing such a fake news story is that responding and not responding may both cause an escalation by the attacker:

• Well, it must be true because they obviously can’t correct it or deny it. Or,
• Well, they would deny it wouldn’t they.

This means that you will need to have expertise available to support you in minimising the damage.