Misinfomation Village 2022 @ DEFCON 30

Role:

Conference Chair, Programme Chair

About the Conference:

The Misinformation Village conference, held in Las Vegas, USA on August 12-13, 2022, featured an array of informative sessions from diverse speakers. The event focused on defining, understanding, and combatting misinformation and aimed to strengthen online content credibility and information quality. The conference included lightning talks, workshops, and fireside chats, providing a comprehensive overview of misinformation tactics, current campaigns, and potential defensive methods.

Key focuses of the program included workshops on the narrative characteristics of disinformation campaigns related to scientific and health issues, and academic integration sessions featuring case studies on gendered health misinformation online. Other highlights included a fireside chat on mass disinformation operations and sessions on cognitive security. The use of link shorteners to track scams and disinformation, the history of Russian cyber and information warfare, and the weaponization of social media were among the topics of the lightning talks.

Programme:

Workshops:

  • “The Hybrid Strategies of Autocratic States: Narrative Characteristics of Disinformation Campaigns in Relation To Issues of a Scientific-Health Nature” with Carlos Galán
  • “Tools for Fighting Disinformation” with Preslav Nakov – Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence
  • “Mass Disinformation Operations: How to Detect and Assess Ops with OSINT and SOCMINT Tools and Techniques” with Paula González
  • “Cognitive Security in Theory and Practice” with Sara-Jayne Terp

Academic Integration (Lightning Talks):

  • “Examining the Urgency of Gendered Health Misinformation Online Through Three Case Studies” – Jenna Sherman (Meedan)
  • “Cognitive Security: Human Vulnerabilities, ExSploits, & TTPs” – Matthew Canham (Beyond Layer Seven)
  • “Detecting the “Fake News” Before It Was Even Written, Media Literacy, and Flattening the Curve of the COVID-19 Infodemic” – Preslav Nakov (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence)
  • “Uncovering Multi-platform Misinformation Campaigns with Information Tracer” – Zhouhan Chen (New York University)
  • “SimPPL: Simulating Social Networks and Disinformation” – Swapneel Mehta (New York University)
  • “Dazed and Seriously Confused: Analysis of Data Voids & the Disinformation Landscape of Central Asia” – Rhyner Washburn (University of Maryland)

Fireside Chat:

  • Jennifer Matthieu (Graphika) and Adam Hickey (US Department of Justice)

Lightning Talks:

  • “Tracking Scams and Disinformation by Hacking Link Shorteners” – Justin Rheinhart and Sam Curry (Pillsade Consulting)
  • “History of Russian Cyber & Information Warfare (2007 – Present)” – Ryan Westman (E-Sentire)
  • “History of the Weaponization of Social Media” – Gina Rosenthal (Independent)
  • “Information Confrontation 2022: A Loud War and a Quiet Enemy” – Luke Richards (Independent)

Talks and Demos:

  • “Memory Holing and the SEO Warping of Human History” – Arikia Milikan (Journalist, Media Consultant)
  • “Web Monetization: A Privacy-Preserving and Open Way to Earn from Content” – Tech Demo with Uchi Uchibeke (Coil)
  • “Fireside Chat with Arikia Milikan and Uchi Uchibeke”
  • “Not Feeling Yourself: User Spoofing and Other Disinformation Exploits” – Burninator
  • “The Television News Visual Explorer: Cataloging Visual Narratives & Lending Context” – Kalev Leetaru (Founder, GDELT Project)
  • Jessica Dheere (Ranking Digital Rights)
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