Method for detecting novel coordinated inauthentic information operations (CIOs)

[neal.anders]

Disclaimer: This isn’t a shameless plug for this service… the paid part is for the executive summaries (video & audio) they provide.. the actual papers they link to are mostly? free to access if you know where to look..

I recently subscribed to JournalClub.io – this is a service that summarizes various journals and research papers across a number of subjects.. I primarily wanted access to summaries to papers related to AI/ML, but the Security, Electromagnetic Spectrum, Energy, Climate, and Transportation categories sometimes have interesting papers that those here might find informative.

Case In Point — Today’s article came from the EPJ Data Science Journal, and I thought it might be worth sharing given the particular topic: Coordinated Inauthentic Information (Misinformation) and how to detect it..

Title: “Unsupervised detection of coordinated information operations in the wild”
Manuscript: https://epjdatascience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00544-y

Figured this or some of the other topics might be of interest to some here…

[Dan In Texas]

Practically speaking for those of us who cannot apply Bayesian inference to recognize CIO (i.e., disinformation attacks) what proven, practical methods may be employed by humans to avoid becoming victims? (for example: avoiding social media altogether)

[neal.anders]

Good question Dan.

A lot of methods and algorithms used in AI/ML are inspired by analogues observed in nature.

Example: Collective Animal Behavior (CAB)

… think a school of fish
… a swarm of bees
… flocks of birds

By observing these patterns in nature and understanding what causes the behaviors in response to environmental conditions or outside inputs we can apply that understanding to events happening online.

We then compare and consider if the same responses would elicit different results based on smaller groups or individuals, and are appropriate for the perceived threat?

Example: A school of fish reacting to predator, say a shark, and initiate a startle cascade — versus how they react to bubble net feeding being coordinated by whales.

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