What is the Difference Between Misinformation and Disinformation?
Misinformation is false or inaccurate information shared without any intent to deceive — the person spreading it genuinely believes it is true.
Disinformation is false information created and distributed deliberately, with the specific intent to mislead, confuse, manipulate, or profit. The difference is not the content — it is the intent behind it.
Why Both Are a Problem for Australian Businesses
In Australia, the volume of false information circulating online is rising. Social media algorithms are built to amplify content that generates strong reactions, which means sensational or alarming claims spread faster than corrections. People skim rather than read deeply, and they share before they verify.
Even traditional media contributes to the problem by repeating what is already trending online — often before claims have been checked. The result is a public that is increasingly uncertain about what to trust, and that uncertainty is exactly what cybercriminals exploit.
For your business, this is not just a social issue. It is a practical security risk, and it is growing.
How Disinformation Amplifies Phishing and Social Engineering
Phishing attacks in Australia are not always blunt instruments. Sophisticated attackers do not just send a suspicious email and hope for the best. They build context first — using disinformation to make a later attack feel believable.
Here is a straightforward example: a cybercriminal spreads a rumour that a major software vendor is pushing an urgent security patch. They seed it through social media posts, tech forums, and fake news articles. A few days later, your staff receive an email telling them to install that patch immediately. Because they have already heard about the “issue”, they are far less likely to question the email — and far more likely to click, download, or enter their credentials.
This is social engineering at its most effective. The technical payload is almost secondary. The real work happens in priming the target to lower their guard.
What Is “Phishing 2.0″ and Why Does It Work?
“Phishing 2.0” is the term used to describe this layered approach — combining social proof, urgency, and a believable backstory to make a phishing message feel legitimate. It works because it exploits how humans naturally process information: when something fits a story we already believe, we stop questioning it.
Even a small improvement in click rates — a few percentage points — can turn a low-yield campaign into a serious breach. Business email compromise is one of the most financially damaging forms of cyber-crime in Australia, and disinformation is increasingly part of how it begins.
Cyber awareness training that teaches staff to recognise these patterns is one of the strongest defences a business can build.
How AI Is Making Disinformation-Driven Attacks More Dangerous
AI has not created this problem, but it has made it significantly worse. What once took time, skill, and resources can now be done cheaply, quickly, and at scale.
AI-generated content — summaries, articles, social posts — can confidently repeat misinformation sourced elsewhere. Search engines increasingly surface AI-generated answers rather than linking directly to original sources, and many people treat that output as authoritative. If the underlying source is wrong or manipulated, the AI output will be too, and it will appear polished and credible.
Cybercriminals are also buying search advertisements, so their fake or malicious sites appear at the top of results for common searches — “WhatsApp desktop download”, for example. A lookalike page captures login credentials before the user realises anything is wrong.
Deepfakes, Fake Search Results, and CEO Fraud
Deepfake technology raises the stakes considerably for Australian businesses. It is now possible to generate a convincing video or audio clip of a CEO, CFO, or other executive — announcing a merger, confirming a transfer, or issuing an “urgent confidential” instruction. The cost and technical skill required to do this has dropped dramatically.
CEO fraud in Australia is a recognised and growing threat. A finance team that receives a video message from what appears to be their CEO, followed by a confirming email, is operating under a very different risk profile than one relying on text alone. Deepfakes remove one of the most instinctive checks staff have historically used: recognising a familiar voice or face.
The combination of fake search results, AI-generated content, and deepfake media means that digital content can no longer be taken at face value. Your business processes need to account for that.
How to Protect Your Business from Disinformation-Enabled Attacks
The most effective defence is not a single security product. It is a combination of practical habits, clear processes, and a culture of healthy scepticism — applied consistently across your team.
Out-of-Band Verification and Zero Trust Principles
Out-of-band verification means confirming a request through a completely separate channel from the one it arrived on. If a supplier emails to advise new bank details, you call them — not on a number provided in the email, but on a number you already have on record or can independently verify. The request and the verification never travel through the same channel.
This aligns directly with zero trust security principles: do not automatically trust a message, identity, or device simply because it looks familiar. Verify, regardless of how legitimate it appears. The higher the value or risk of an action, the more rigorous the verification should be.
For high-risk transactions — fund transfers, credential resets, vendor changes — a two-person authorisation rule adds another layer of protection that is difficult for an attacker to circumvent.
The Role of Remote Work in Increasing Exposure
Remote and hybrid work arrangements have removed many of the informal checks that used to exist in offices. A quick desk-side conversation — “did you really send this?” —is no longer the default. Teams working across different locations need deliberate verification steps built into their processes, not just assumed.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is important and should be in place, but it cannot stop a staff member who has already been convinced that an action is legitimate. Human manipulation requires a human-centred response: clear escalation procedures and a team culture where questioning requests is encouraged, not penalised. Cyber security for small business often underestimates this layer of risk. The technology matters, but the people and processes around it matter just as much.
Why Cyber Awareness Training Is Your Most Important Defence
Technology controls can be bypassed. Policies can be ignored under pressure. But a team that genuinely understands how these attacks work — and why they work — is far harder to compromise.
Effective cyber awareness training does not happen once a year. It works best as regular, practical nudges: short examples, real scenarios, current threats. Show staff how quickly an AI can generate a convincing fake. Walk through what a phishing 2.0 campaign looks like from start to finish. Make the threat concrete and familiar, not abstract and distant.
Education needs to extend beyond the office too. Staff who consume news primarily through social media feeds are more likely to encounter and share disinformation without recognising it — and more likely to be primed for a later attack that references it. Digital literacy is a genuine business risk, and awareness programs that treat it seriously make a measurable difference.
Building long-term resilience against social engineering attacks means investing in your people, not just your systems
How to Verify a Suspicious Message or Request
When something feels off — or even when it does not — follow these steps before acting:
- Pause. Do not act on urgency alone. Urgency combined with secrecy is a significant red flag. Legitimate requests can withstand a short delay.
- Check the source independently. Do not use contact details provided in the message itself. Look the sender up through a channel you already trust — your own records, the organisation’s official website, or a number you have used before.
- Call the sender on a known number. A direct phone call to a verified contact is the simplest and most effective verification step available. Do not reply to the original message to ask whether it is real.
- Escalate for high-value requests. Any request involving a financial transaction, credential change, or vendor detail update should require sign-off from a second person, regardless of how confident the first person feels.
- Report the message regardless of outcome. Whether you acted on it or not, report suspicious messages to your IT team or security provider. Patterns across a team often reveal an active attack campaign that no single person would spot alone.
Talk to Mercury IT About Protecting Your Business
If you are unsure whether your team would recognise a disinformation-enabled attack, that is worth exploring. Mercury IT’s cybersecurity team works with Australian businesses to assess real-world risk, build practical defences, and deliver awareness training that actually sticks.
We are not here to alarm you — we are here to help you make informed decisions about your security. If you would like to have a straightforward conversation about where your business stands, we would be glad to help.
