Troll Farms: Canadian Centre and Media

troll farms: Online operatives create social media accounts or hijack existing profiles, and even set up troll farms of employees paid to comment on traditional media websites, social media and anywhere else they can reach their target audience, the centre says, according to CTV. Cyber threat actors also try to steal and release information, modify or make information more compelling and distracting, create fraudulent or distorted 'news,' and promote extreme opinions. In a report Thursday, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security warns that state-sponsored players can conduct sophisticated influence operations by posing as regular people. The new centre, a wing of the Communications Security Establishment, Canada's electronic spy agency, brings together experts from the CSE, Public Safety and Shared Services. An updated version will be issued next spring, just months before Canadians go to the polls. The CSE warned in a study for the Liberal government last year that cyberthreat activity against the democratic process is increasing around the world, and Canada is not immune. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.