Viginum

The Intelligence Gazette
Cofrex, Viginum, Uzbek SGB, US Captagon crackdown

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community from London to Paris via Washington.

FranceCOFREX picks representative for its Expo 2025 Osaka presence.

FranceStéphane Bouillon discloses Viginum's annual report.

UzbekistanInternal Security Service adds another layer to border control.

WashingtonDNI to sniff out Assad-linked Captagon.

France
French military gets offensive again in its information warfare against Russia

The French government is once more deploying its inter-force environmental actions centre's (CIAE) digital operations group (GON) to conduct online influence operations against Russia.

France
Corporate intelligence firms Axis, Corexalys get into OSINT platform market

After developing a digital investigation and data aggregation platform for its own use, Axis is now moving into this marketplace, along with a growing number of companies keen to land contracts with private and public clients.

France
Anti-disinformation agency Viginum seeks to move up a gear after a year in operation

Officially launched in July 2021, Viginum counters foreign influence operations, a goal that is now a priority for the French government.

Spotlight | France
Between Avisa and French intelligence services, it's complicated

Negative media attention on Avisa Partners, Matthieu Creux's corporate intelligence and influence firm, illustrates the extent of French government ambivalence towards the company.

France, South Korea
South Korean intelligence eyes up Aleph Networks' cyber tools

French dark web specialist Aleph Networks' tools are attracting interest from Seoul's intelligence services. Struggling with their neighbour, North Korea, the services are in the midst of a major overhaul and are working hard to develop their cyber capacities.

Spotlight | France
Crackdown on disinformation drives race for OSINT tools in France

Buoyed by Viginum and the cyber branch of France's military procurement agency DGA-MI's projects, several French companies are trying to develop full open source intelligence platforms, such as Predicta Lab and Corexalys.

France
Military procurement agency's cyber branch strides into French anti-disinformation apparatus

Among its hundreds of new cyber recruits, the information control department of the French military procurement agency, the DGA, will create an information warfare taskforce to give the ministry of armed forces the technical means to achieve its goals.

Sweden
New Swedish anti-fake news agency boosts online investigation capacity to counter Russian threat

Like their counterparts in other Western countries, Sweden's intelligence services are looking for open source intelligence contractors to help them combat Russian propaganda.

France
Ben Scott and Pierre Omidyar's anti-disinfo lobby monitoring French elections

Luminate and Reset are about to reveal the existence of their task force GVNIE, which is tracking fake news and hate speech in the run-up to the presidential election. Meanwhile, Viginum, the French agency dedicated to fighting foreign digital interference, is struggling to take off.

France
Viginum slots into France administrative counterintelligence landscape

President Emmanuel Macron's anti-fake news unit has joined a crowded landscape where various roles overlap.

France, Sahel
Amarante to monitor influence operations in the Sahel for French defence ministry

The ministry of armed forces has hired the French security group Amarante to conduct a study of the networks and relays of influence in G5 Sahel countries. The French government is increasingly concerned about foreign interference campaigns in the region, where it has plans for its own strategy of influence.

France
Macron gets intelligence services battle ready to protect elections from potential foreign interference

Unlike previous presidential polls, the Elysée is mobilising intelligence services on an unprecedented scale to secure the next election. Behind France's dedicated new agency Viginum, the DGSE, the DGSI and Tracfin are actively trying to prevent new foreign interferences.

France
Viginum and DGSI consider partnering with defence-backed startups to fight fake news

With four months to go before the French presidential elections, Sahar and Storyzy, two start-ups backed in their early days by the French armed forces ministry, are leading the field for contracts to equip the DGSI and Viginum - the second on the advice of the first - with cyber systems to fight fake news.

France
In Viginum's shadows, 'state start-up' Disinfo fights fake news for French foreign ministry

Hosted by the ministry's "digital ambassador", Disinfo, which develops open-source tools to monitor disinformation, was created in April 2019 by national security directorate SGDSN's inter-ministerial anti-fake news task force. As such, it represents the "soft power" component of the French government's efforts to counter disinformation.

France
France's SGDSN budget finances new anti-fake news technology for Viginum

France's new anti-fake news service Viginum has been allocated €4m to procure technology and hire 25 additional staff in signs which suggest the service is poised to work more closely with the French intelligence community.

Spotlight | France
Behind showcase Viginum, Colmi committee takes lead in French anti-fake news efforts

The French government is organising its intelligence services' push against foreign disinformation. The General secretariat for defense and national security laid in early August the roles military intelligence and domestic intelligence will play within the newly formed Operational committee against information manipulation (Colmi).

France
Aleph builds network analytics tool for French military intelligence

The Drones project, developed in part by Aleph Networks, will help France's military intelligence analysts better understand network dynamics and monitor influence and propaganda operations. The tool will also be rolled out for use by the private sector.