A sophisticated Russian influence campaign known as DoppelGänger has been leveraging fake news websites and social media platforms to spread disinformation and undermine support for Ukraine. The campaign, orchestrated by Russian agencies Structura and SDA, began in May 2022 and primarily targets France, Germany, and other countries. Inauthentic social media accounts, especially on video platforms, amplify disinformation articles, with activity peaking during significant real-world events such as protests, aid decisions, and national budget votes.
The campaign employs a three-stage redirection process. Initially, social media platforms are provided with thumbnail metadata. In the second stage, an obfuscated JavaScript script is fetched and executed, leading to the final redirection to disinformation websites. Keitaro, a tool for campaign performance monitoring, is used in the third stage, revealing a new cluster of managed disinformation websites.
DoppelGänger’s infrastructure is extensive, involving both compromised legitimate news outlets (through typosquatting) and newly created fake websites. Researchers at Sekoia discovered an open-source Traefik control panel likely managing these websites, with IP addresses like 178.62.255.247 and 206.189.243.184 involved in the campaign. These websites, including newsroad.online, utilize Cloudflare CDN to mask their real IP addresses, although misconfigured functionalities of the Content Management System (CMS) were exploited to reveal the actual IP addresses.
The campaign’s content targets specific demographics, suggesting a well-defined strategy to influence receptive online groups with tailored messages that align with Russian interests. The discovery of such a coordinated disinformation effort highlights the need for robust cybersecurity measures and vigilant monitoring to protect against misinformation and propaganda.
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