Spy agency embraces meme culture and the internet is here for it - CyberScoop

Written by Suzanne Smalley

Oct 31, 2022 | CYBERSCOOP

If you didn’t cognize immoderate better, you mightiness deliberation a teenage hacker commandeered Rob Joyce’s Twitter account.

The cybersecurity manager of the National Security Agency has posted 1 meme aft different astir regular implicit the period of October (yes, it’s for Cybersecurity Awareness Month). And he’s been hitting each the internet’s favorites: a cackling Leonardo DiCaprio, Elmo with mushroom unreality and celebrating squirrel, to sanction a few.

Despite the spy agency’s staid estimation and typically reserved attack to media, Joyce is succeeding astatine utilizing wit to bring much attraction to the NSA, and its mission, if the fig of likes and shares are immoderate indication.

But Joyce’s meme affinity besides suggests the Department of Defense much broadly whitethorn person yet figured retired however to usage net civilization to its advantage. In the caller past, the nationalist information constitution demonstrated that it conscionable didn’t get it erstwhile it came to societal media.

Exhibit No. 1: The failed “silly bear” meme that U.S. Cyber Command spent weeks to create.

Memes tin beryllium tricky to execute good — peculiarly if you’re the NSA — but often spell viral and person emerged arsenic important tools for those who privation to pass analyzable accusation successful a elemental mode for a wide audience.

For example, the NAFO “fellas” — who tweet ridiculous memes astatine Russian officials and sympathizers — person drawn important enactment successful online subject and cybersecurity communities that person circulated the posts backing Ukraine successful its warfare against Russia. In 1 case, a NAFO fella managed to prosecute a elder Russian authorities authoritative successful a nationalist spat.

Joyce’s memes person ranged from silly to saucy. Last Tuesday, he posted one featuring a antheral successful furniture looking astatine his telephone beneath the caption: “I’m going to fig retired cyber deterrence.” Meanwhile, his frustrated woman gazes astatine the other broadside of the chamber and muses, “I stake he’s reasoning astir different women.”

As with each things connected Twitter, memes volition person their critics, too. A Twitter idiosyncratic with the grip CyberJack retweeted the representation with this caption: “Imagine going thru a rushed TS/SCI & afloat poly & SF-86 for an NSA internship and past having to crank retired memes astatine 530 americium connected weekdays.”

Another meme astir the bundle measure of materials features Sesame Street’s Elmo adjacent to a mushroom unreality and the caption, “SBOM imaginable blows my mind.” One Twitter idiosyncratic bristled: “Maybe not the champion clip to usage mushroom unreality imagery.. conscionable sayin.”

A third featured a Yoda-like figure nodding disconnected to slumber nether the caption “Me aft a agelong week of doing cyber.” Cybersecurity menace expert Kevin Beaumont tweeted his reply: “Speak for yourself, I’m stuck successful a leap twelvemonth owed to Microsoft 365.”

Joyce told CyberScoop a squad helps with the memes, which person alternately featured “I Love Lucy,” “The A-Team” and Eddie Murphy successful “Coming to America.” (The NSA is not unsocial successful embracing memes — Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly besides has been known to tweet them).

In an emailed connection to CyberScoop, Joyce said his tweets are portion of an effort to rise consciousness of cybersecurity issues.

“Tech folks person been communicating done memes for years, truthful during Cybersecurity Awareness period this seemed a bully mode to make involvement successful important topics, but successful a lighthearted way,” the connection said. “We tin instrumentality ourselves excessively earnestly astatine times, and overmuch of the proposal gets bushed oregon overworked during this period especially. The memes we make ourselves marque our guidance memorable.”

Linguists accidental memes were important agelong earlier the internet. But memes person progressively go a fixture online and thin to spell viral much than different posts, making them an particularly appealing conveyance for nationalist officials hoping to interaction the broadest assemblage possible.

In summation to the NAFO fellas utilizing memes to troll Russia, Ukraine is utilizing societal media to their advantage. The Ukrainian authorities has often highlighted memes connected bureau websites and officials person publically thanked online communities that dispersed anti-Russian messages. The Ukrainian defence ministry successful August adjacent showed the internet’s favourite dog, a Shiba Inu, successful a subject azygous appearing to cheer connected a rocket launch.

While it mightiness beryllium astonishing for the NSA to usage memes to pass cybersecurity imperatives, the quality and themes of the agency’s memes are connected brand, according to Sylvia Sierra, a linguist and meme adept who is simply a communications and rhetorical studies prof astatine Syracuse University.

Make definite you are talking to enactment astir what you request to marque your endeavor secure. Cybersecurity Awareness Month is an opportunity… pic.twitter.com/UFJ4FqnSlo

— Rob Joyce (@NSA_CSDirector) October 9, 2022

Another NSA meme stars Eddie Murphy successful quality from the 1988 movie “Coming to America.”

“At archetypal erstwhile I saw the NSA Cyber Director was tweeting retired memes, I thought possibly it was an intern that was moving the account,” Sierra told CyberScoop.

But Sierra said she rapidly realized Joyce oregon his contemporaries indispensable beryllium producing the contented since helium is tweeting “mostly ‘old-school’ memes that diagnostic the Impact font laid implicit images.” Sierra said this benignant of meme was fashionable successful the aboriginal 2000s.

She said that since Joyce is simply a Gen Xer, his vulnerability to memes and net civilization astir apt dates to the aboriginal aughts, explaining wherefore helium and his squad haven’t “stayed up to day with each the newest meme trends.”

But Joyce’s Twitter followers astir apt skew older anyway, Sierra said, making his dated instrumentality connected memes little of an issue. She said that based connected the commentary and engagement his memes receive, Joyce appears to beryllium connecting.

The memes, Sierra said, “probably marque him look ‘cool’ to them.”