This campaign is part of the “hybrid war” led by Moscow, the aim of which is to influence public opinion in Western countries.
A “doppelganger” designates the double, often malefic, of a person. For several months, this word from German has also been the name of a vast digital interference operation carried out from Russia against Western actors, allies of Ukraine. After the publication of a note from the body against foreign digital interference Viginum (PDF)the Minister of Foreign Affairs confirmed, on Tuesday 13 June, “the existence of a digital information manipulation campaign against France involving Russian actors and in which state entities or entities affiliated with the Russian state participated by amplifying false information”.
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Paris is in “close connection” with his allies “to defeat the hybrid war waged by Russia”, added Catherine Colonna. Here’s what we know about this weapon of mass manipulation.
Twin sites built from scratch
The technique used by hackers is not new. called “typosquatting”, it consists in creating mirror sites of major national media or government institutions, in order to publish false information. Among the sites copied are those of the Parisianof Figaroof Worlde or even 20 minutes, as well as institutional sites, such as that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the spokeswoman for the Quai d’Orsay. The fake sites are similar in all respects to their models, with the exception of the domain name: the address can thus end with a .lft instead of .fr.
A total of 355 domain names impersonating media in France and nine states in Europe, America and the Middle East have been identified, says Viginum, which oversaw the investigation. “There is no doubt that the objective was to carry out a major disinformation campaign against French opinion”, continues the spokesperson for the Quai d’Orsay. She points out that the authorities decided to make the case public after detecting a mirror site of the ministry claiming, wrongly, that France would introduce a tax to finance aid to Ukraine.
On the media side, “The world can only condemn these intolerable acts and welcome the fact that the perpetrators of these attempts at manipulation have now been identified”, commented its director, Jérôme Fenoglio. “We take this matter very seriously and will act decisively to deal with this impersonation of our brand”reacted to AFP Ronan Dubois, director of the publication of 20 minutes.
A weapon of massive disinformation aimed at French internet users
For a security source quoted by AFP, this recent digital assault is part of “the second phase” of this “Doppelgänger” operation, “an already known campaign”, but this time “with more sophisticated modes of action”. The initial structure of the operation is called RRN, from the name of the pro-Russian site RRN.world (Reliable Recent News), created a few months after the start of the war in Ukraine and which published numerous intoxes, details the synthesis of Viginum.
In addition to typosquatting, the operation results in other actions of influence such as the production of anti-Zelensky cartoons or pro-Russian narratives, relayed in particular by sites with French-sounding names, “like ‘La Virgule’, ‘Allons-y’ or ‘Notre pays'”continues the note. “These sites, presented as French-speaking news media, publish polarizing articles on French and European political life.”
Finally, Viginum points to the creation of fake accounts on social networks, mainly Facebook and Twitter, in order to share this false information. The organization cites in particular the case of the alleged radioactive cloud heading towards France, after the United Kingdom donated shells containing depleted uranium to Ukraine: a poisoning, identified here by “Le Vrai du False”, and which, according to the organization, aims to “undermining the support of the population of Western states for Ukraine”.
At the end of September, the parent company of Facebook, Meta, announced the dismantling on its platform of an operation “of secret influence” from Russia to amplify the visibility of these articles from pirate sites. It pointed for the first time to two Russian companies: ASP and Struktura. “Meta hoped that his report would put an end to the operations, this was not the caseexplains the security source. We found dozens of domain names bought by the Russians. We are not dealing with people who act in homeopathic doses. They are at the beginning of a process of industrialization.”
A modus operandi that bears traces of Moscow
So far, Paris has followed a cautious doctrine when it comes to attributing digital attacks. While the French Foreign Minister mentioned “the involvement of Russian embassies and cultural centers which have actively participated in the amplification of this campaign”, this declaration “does not constitute an attribution” to the Russian authorities, insists the Quai d’Orsay. For the moment, the latter are only accused of having participated in the amplification of the phenomenon. But “we want to send a clear message that we are able to detect”according to this government source.
The investigations bring to light “the involvement of Russian or Russian-speaking individuals and several Russian companies in the realization and conduct of the campaign”, details Viginum’s note. It also reads that the operation is trying to convince a Russian audience of the support of Western populations in Moscow. So, “certain content produced [ont] picked up by Russian media”.
This operation “is part of a long-term Russian strategic thought”explains to AFP Dimitri Minic, researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri). “All this is not the delirium of a few lost people, but has been put into doctrine. Informational warfare is the concept they’ve studied the most for 30 years, he specifies. I don’t think it’s going to be very successful, but it will solidify their fan base in France and Germany, which they probably overestimate, but which really exists.”
When publishing his annual press freedom barometer on May 3, the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, Christophe Deloire, was alarmed on France Inter to see Russia and China “export their propaganda content and information control model”. “Reliable information is drowned in a deluge of misinformation”he judged, considering that the“we perceive less and less the differences between the real and the artificial, the true and the false”. Pointing to the ability of the “Doppelgänger” campaign to “to divert the measures taken against him” by constantly adapting its modus operandi, Viginum warns that it is indeed a “phenomenon likely to harm the interests of the Nation”.