Influence operations, or marketing in battledress. Social media and censorship. WikiLeaks Vault7 update. NSA changes Internet collection policy (privacy advocates cautiously optimistic).

Concerns over influence operations continue to roil governments on both sides of the Atlantic. The Sunday Times revealed that GCHQ has gone on "high alert" (a journalistic characterization, not necessarily an operational one) to prevent cyberattacks during the run-up to the UK's June 8^th general election. France's presidential run-off is in its last week of campaigning as voters prepare to go to the polls on May 8^th and 9^th; the campaign of Emmanuel Macron's En Marche! has received the ministrations of Fancy Bear (Russia's GRU). And the US Congress received testimony about information operations last week: the RAND Corporation has published its testimony in the form of an overview of the current state of the art. In sum, that state indicates that marketing in battledress now effectively targets group fears, desires, and insecurities; that barriers to entry have fallen deeply; and that Russia maintains a lead in this form of conflict.

Facebook has noted that its platform is susceptible to use by information operators ("malicious actors"). Various political leaders, prominently in the UK, excoriate Facebook and other social media providers for "not doing enough to tackle hatred," although how they might do so without full-scale censorship remains unclear. (Turkey's government, at least, as opted for full-scale censorship, blocking Wikipedia and censoring Twitter.)

WikiLeaks on Friday released another tranche of its Vault7 leaks, these purporting to reveal a CIA document-tracking tool.

A change in NSA collection: “NSA will no longer collect certain internet communications that merely mention a foreign intelligence target.”