NEW RESOURCES

Bellingcat: Food Delivery Leak Unmasks Russian Security Agents. “Russian tech giant Yandex has blamed one of its employees for the hacking and subsequent leak of data from Yandex Food, a popular food delivery service in Russia. Among the many users affected are serving agents of Russia’s security services and military, who in several cases even ordered food to their places of work using their official email addresses.”

Deseret News: One month ago she woke up to a missile attack. Now, this teen is helping other Ukrainians stay in the U.S.. “On Thursday, Utah-based tech company SixFifty launched a new tool that effectively automates the incredibly long application for both temporary protected status and asylum. Founder and CEO of SixFifty Kimball Parker likens it to TurboTax — anyone looking to apply needs to enter personal information like a name and address, and the automated tool does the rest, translating the entries from Ukrainian to English. The applicant is later emailed a copy of their forms, whether it’s for asylum or temporary protected status. Parker says it’s best to apply with an attorney present, but it’s not necessary.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Deadline: Google Tells Publishers They May Be Demonetized For Certain Ukraine War Content. “A message sent late on Friday warned publishers that the demonetization extends to ‘claims that imply victims are responsible for their own tragedy or similar instances of victim blaming, such as claims that Ukraine is committing genocide or deliberately attacking its own citizens.’ Google also indicated that it may also demonetize for other reasons.”

CryptoPotato: Crypto Donations to Ukraine Top $100 Million. “As the war in Ukraine unfolds, the international cryptocurrency community has raised millions in donations to support its people. At present, the number of tallied funds raised for the invaded nation tops $100 million.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Jerusalem Post: In ‘Ukrainian military Oscars,’ Ukraine mocks Russia and promotes its army . “Ukraine has been using memes and humor on state social media accounts in its information warfare strategy during the Russia-Ukraine War, and its state social media accounts were notable prior to the war for their effective use of memes to advocate foreign policy positions. Many of the selections for the ‘Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oscars’ utilizes pre-existing wartime memes and symbols used by Ukraine and its supporters.”

Grid: ‘A gruesome way of accounting’: The politics of body counts in Ukraine. “The use of casualties for political benefit has been particularly evident in this conflict — given that Ukraine has outside support in this element of the ‘information war’ and the extent to which Russia is doing everything possible to hide or minimize the truth of what is happening to its soldiers.”

Radio Free Asia: How Russia’s disinformation on Ukraine is spreading to democratic Taiwan, via China. “Russian and Chinese disinformation about Ukraine, which is ideologically linked to ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda on Taiwan, is breaking through into online discourse on the democratic island, a fact-checking organization based there has said.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Global News: Canadian intelligence flags Russian disinformation campaigns amid Ukraine war. “Canada’s electronic espionage agency is warning that Russian state-backed actors are seeding online disinformation around the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. While the news comes as no surprise to those familiar with Russian information warfare tactics, publicly releasing an assessment based on classified intelligence gathering is an unusual step for the Communications Security Establishment.”

Kyodo News: Japan ramps up online messaging on Ukraine to prepare for hybrid war . “Japan’s Defense Ministry has been ramping up its messaging on social media over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as it tries to prepare for ‘hybrid warfare,’ which combines conventional weapons and information warfare such as the manipulation of public opinion.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Task & Purpose: The real reason Ukraine’s information war is so successful. “Just as surprising as the current state of the ground war is how Ukraine has adeptly defended against Russian information warfare efforts. The current debate now is whether Ukraine has gone even further and achieved supremacy in the information domain; this is a reality that a month ago seemed unlikely, as Russia’s use of information and hybrid warfare to achieve its strategic objectives was regarded as vastly superior to that of Ukraine’s. The tables have turned. It’s also clear that Ukraine is engaging in propaganda to highlight its military successes, rather than its failures. Information doesn’t exist in a vacuum, however, and any praise or critique of the Ukrainian information warfare effort should consider that it is their current successes on the ground that are leading to victories in the information domain.”

The Lowy Institute: Ukraine: This isn’t the information war you were looking for. “The war in Ukraine has illustrated how cyber and information warfare are primarily grey zone tools and arenas. We should stop thinking of grey zone activity as an ill-defined period between or leading into kinetic conflict. Rather, the grey zone is the constant backdrop against which conflict occurs, interacting with events. It is characterised by noise, turbulence and confusion. Waiting for clarity or clear space – or a point of culmination – misinterprets the nature of the information environment.”

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!