Cyber combat is changing

The ability to command and manipulate trends and influences in social media requires few technical resources and minimal ability. Nation state and non-state actors and cyber threat groups can access streams of online data that is readily available within social media to discover points of influence of networked users within a target environment or nation. This means that now, instead of being forced to work to attack the military, infrastructure, or potentially better defended assets, cyber threat groups can now target the general population of a society.

By doing this, they can inflict specific influence on that target group's beliefs, thoughts, and even behaviors. Because of the interconnected nature of users and the public within social media platforms, the ability to spread disinformation and fear is exponentially increased, literally at the speed of a "like."

The evolution of social media into a tool of cyber warfare is not surprising...