On March 8, a five-day course on Russian disinformation and ways to counter it, implemented by the High School in cooperation with the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the MCIP, ended.

As a result of the training, 52 public servants of categories B and C received the relevant certificates.

During the first training session, the students had the opportunity to talk to Igor Solovyov, Head of the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Maksym Mayorov, Senior Analyst at the Centre, and Maria Sahaidak, Head of Strategic Communications at the Centre, spoke about hybrid and information warfare, as well as information attacks.

Together with representatives of the Cyberpolice Department, the training participants analysed the risks to online security and communication on the Internet. They also discussed in detail the BRAMA project, whose mission is to cleanse the information space of Russian propaganda and disinformation, and to destroy centres for the illegal dissemination of illegal and prohibited content by blocking hostile information sources.

Iryna Subota, a data analyst at the Centre, introduced the concept of disinformation, types and signs of false news, as well as tools for verifying images and videos.

Lectures and practical exercises aimed at countering disinformation and fakes by Serhiy Zhukov, the Centre’s monitoring specialist, were also interesting.

On the fifth day of the training, representatives of the National Media Literacy Project of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy “Filter” worked with the participants with an interactive lecture on “Media Literacy of a Civil Servant”. The training was moderated and accompanied by Viktoriia Zrazhevska, Head of Training at the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, and Kateryna Nechaeva, Assistant of the Centre’s Training Department.