In the war waged by Russia, Europe is being targeted by a vast disinformation campaign, according to a note published by VIGINUM, the French government’s technical and operational service responsible for vigilance and protection against digital interference (accessible in French here).
The aim of this massive campaign is to discredit Western support for Ukraine, in particular by promoting the narrative that Western populations support Russia.
It has been underway for several months and relies on a number of modus operandi, in particular typosquatting and the creation of fake websites and social network accounts.
Typosquatting consists in registering domain names that are visually very similar to the official domain names of brand owners. In this campaign, national public and private media outlets and government agencies are particularly targeted. Fake French-language news sites are legion, sharing controversial content via fraudulent Facebook and Twitter accounts. Particularly targeted are the media outlets 20 Minutes, Le Parisien and Le Figaro.
Some of the sites mentioned in the VIGINUM memo are still accessible today.
This is yet another reminder of the urgent need for trademark owners to take action to protect their brands on the Internet, by monitoring for infringing content and taking action to have it removed.
