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Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Oliver Harris
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. FORTY-FOUR
  47. FORTY-FIVE
  48. FORTY-SIX
  49. FORTY-SEVEN
  50. FORTY-EIGHT
  51. FORTY-NINE
  52. FIFTY
  53. FIFTY-ONE
  54. FIFTY-TWO
  55. FIFTY-THREE
  56. FIFTY-FOUR
  57. FIFTY-FIVE
  58. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There were various ways sophisticated cyber operations could enhance information warfare: devices and websites can both be infected so you get steered the right way, websites look real but aren’t, pages shoot up the rankings. I looked for the same phrases or links appearing simultaneously; big waves of people piling in to comment immediately, then repeating the process at regular intervals. I amassed fifty accounts, ten blogs and six websites that struck me as suspect or just heavily anti-West and sent them through to Evotec to see if they could get me anything: matches with previous cyber operations, source IPs, syntactic patterns to see how many people were producing this. Every major military power had units running social media now. NATO and US Central Command had poured millions into it in the last couple of years, but they were playing catch-up. The West couldn’t compete with the office blocks in Moscow and Shanghai filled with young men and women operating their distant personas. You used to be able to watch the syntax: the Chinese skipped plurals; Russian’s a phonetic language so spelling tended to be a weak point. But it was getting more sophisticated on all fronts. Bots came fleshed out, with face shots scraped from Picasa and Flickr. The software existed to create hundreds of these a minute, inserting them into comment threads and forums, interacting with people just like a human. But software couldn’t do everything.

I called Walker at 8 a.m. and talked information warfare. He said social media was monitored for Vectis by Piper Anderson, the PR company hiring them. Piper Anderson’s CEO, Lucy Piper, was on the ground in Kazakhstan, currently with a trade delegation. I said it could be useful for me to speak to her and he said he’d put a call in.

‘Does she know about Joanna?’ I asked.

‘Unfortunately.’

*

I caught up with the delegation at a Saracen-sponsored School of Business, Law and Management. It had a glossy new visitors’ centre attached, its creamy imitation marble engraved with the message: Energy awakens ancient history. A lot of men circulated with branded name badges: BAE, Glaxo, Whitbread; then some junior ministers, journalists, a university chancellor. I caught a glimpse of the British ambassador to Kazakhstan, Suzanna Ford, slightly dishevelled in a grey skirt suit, laughing and drinking white wine. She turned, met my eyes before I could look away, gave the smile of someone having to smile at everyone. I couldn’t see Piper.