The intelligence agency Britain's Signals is preparing to launch a major cyber operation against malicious propaganda aimed at undermining research on the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the London newspaper Times, the cyber operation is mainly directed against disinformation campaigns originating from Russia.
The alleged external disinformation campaigns would be targeting ongoing research at the University of Oxford. Place where efforts are being made to create an effective coronavirus vaccine.
In these disinformation campaigns, the narrative that the vaccine is being studied is often used he will turn those who hire him into chimpanzees. Dozens of Russian accounts have emphasized this theme on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with texts appropriately translated into English.
The Times reports that the British government considers countering this alleged Russian disinformation campaign a strategic priority. Apparently the Russian malicious attack increases in intensity as British scientists move closer to their goal of discovering an effective vaccine against the pandemic.
London then ordered the British Army's 77th Brigade, which specializes in intelligence operations, to launch an online campaign to counter misleading narratives about the coronavirus vaccine.
The British Government through its Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) kicked off to launch offensive operations against disinformation sources, the Times says. The British spy agency will use tools originally developed to monitor and render unusable the websites and other online platforms used by the Islamic State for recruiting.
According to the document cited by the Times, the 77th Brigade and the GCHQ will not be able to take action against normal users of social media, rather than state agencies. Furthermore, the offensive cyber campaign cannot be directed to websites based in Britain's so-called Five Eyes allies, namely Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. However, British agents will be able to inform their Five Eyes counterparts, so that they can act independently.