The assassination attempts on former US president Donald Trump represent the growing threat of online extremism fuelled by ultra-partisan misinformation trending on social media, according to Admiral Mike Rogers, former director of the US National Security Agency and commander of the United States Cyber Command.
Rogers served in the US Navy for 37 years and is now in the private sector, on the advisory board of Australia’s largest cybersecurity firm, CyberCX. In his mind, he said in an interview in advance of the US election, one cyber threat loomed larger than hacking, malware or ransomware.
“If you ask me what cybersecurity issue concerns me the most, I’ll be honest with you, it’s misinformation and disinformation,” Rogers said.
Admiral Mike Rogers served in the US Navy for 37 years and is now in the private sector, on the advisory board of Australia’s largest cybersecurity firm CyberCX.Credit: SMH
He describes these as “the manipulation of opinion and perspective in a democratic, free and open society; where adversaries, both outside as well as inside, are turning our freedoms against us to keep us divided and to keep us fighting each other.”
According to Rogers, such heightened online misinformation, combined with both major parties framing the election in apocalyptic terms, can lead to real-world violence.
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“One of the byproducts of framing the choice as almost apocalyptic, is it creates this impression of, ‘Ooh my God, if the world is ending, does that justify particular acts, like potentially taking a life?’ ”
Investigations into both assassination attempts are ongoing. Rogers said individuals who committed such crimes were, generally speaking, heavily engaged online.
“Often the social media they are paying most attention to is this very distorted, very extreme source of information and perspectives that create this justification in their mind for why they should do what they do,” he said.