| DATE: | May 13th, 2022 |
| TIME: | 2:00pm to 4:00pm (PST) |
| VENUE: | Zoom Online meeting RSVP Required – register at Zoom |
| TOPIC: | Disinformation and Fake News – Democracy Dies in Lies |
| PRESENTER: | Stephen Carras |
| RECORDING: |
ABSTRACT
January 6th was a wake-up call for democracies and ordinary citizens around the world; fake news isn’t just some meme on social media that your annoying cousin shares to everyone, it almost brought the world’s largest democracy to its knees. While the media and ordinary citizens talk about fake news and those who perpetrate its spread, not as many know its history, and how nation states like Russia use it to influence unwitting pawns around the world. More importantly, how do we as societies (both Canada, the United States, and other nations) proactively and successfully engage with people who believe in these conspiracies and bring them back to normal views and beliefs to prevent future acts of domestic extremism from occurring.
BIOGRAPHY
Stephen is an American living in the Seattle / Bellevue area working as an Engineer, Cybersecurity at T-Mobile. He holds degrees in Security and Risk Analysis – Information and Cybersecurity, and Business with Minors in Finance and Renewable Energy from Penn State. Currently he is also pursuing a Masters in Cybersecurity Analytics and Operations from Penn State while working at T-Mobile. While he is relatively new to the world of cybersecurity, he has worked at other companies in the clean technology and finance industries before making the transition to cybersecurity. In his free time he enjoys learning new technologies, investing, and drinking Starbucks Frappuccinos.