Information Warfare 101: The Yes Men Fix the World

Yes Men Poster

I watched a film called “The Yes Men Fix The World” and to my pleasant surprise it was a textbook example of some forms of Information Warfare.

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno may not know it, but their stylish escapades taking on corporations acting badly help illustrated some techniques and outcomes of Information Warfare. One of their prime pranks they setup a false website for a division of Dow Chemical that would handle humanitarian outreach. The clever pair were contacted by the BBC to do an interview on the anniversary of the horrible Bhopal Chemical Disaster caused by one of their acquired subsidiaries Union Carbide - they went on air internationally as a representative of the company and took full responsibility for the tragedy and claimed they would give full renumeration for victims of the accident.

After the news hit the wire services, Dow Chemical temporarily lost $2BN (US) off it’s stock value. While there attack wasn’t permanent on Dow’s stock price as it was widely reported as a hoax afterward – this case illustrates  that there are a lot of attacks that could take place in this vector on both corporations and countries on their economic assets that could have long reaching consequences. There are some variations that could also play havoc with military assets – especially for countries without developed satellite recon or intelligence services that can corroborate disinformation.

Here in the information age, markets react very quickly to news – even unjustified rumors are enough for a company to take a bath in share price that it may never recover from.  Possible attack sources could originate from activists, terrorists, governments and even disgruntled employees.

Kudos to these fellows for this teaching aide in information warfare.