Inside the UK’s new security centre fighting deepfakes and information warfare

The UK is creating a new national security centre to identify and disrupt hostile information campaigns as artificial intelligence makes it easier for foreign states to spread convincing disinformation and deepfakes.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the National Centre for Information Defence during his first address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The centre will bring together government departments, intelligence agencies, law enforcement and technology companies to counter information operations directed against the UK.

Burnham said hostile states were mounting what he described as an “industrial-scale assault” on the UK and its allies. He singled out Russia, accusing its agencies of using bots, fake websites and falsified news articles to influence public opinion.

“Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fear,” Burnham told the UN.

The announcement puts information warfare more firmly alongside cyberattacks, espionage and sabotage as a national security threat.

What is the National Centre for Information Defence?

The new centre will detect, attribute and disrupt information attacks by foreign states.

The UK’s existing National Cyber Security Centre is the country’s technical authority for cyber security and helps protect government, businesses and critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.

The National Centre for Information Defence will instead focus on attempts to manipulate the information environment. These could include networks of fake social-media accounts, fabricated websites, forged material presented as coming from legitimate organisations and AI-generated images, audio and video.

The centre will initially be led from the Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, working with intelligence agencies, government departments, police and social-media companies.

How the UK monitors disinformation

The UK is not starting from scratch on fighting disinformation. The government already operates the National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT), which identifies and responds to misinformation and deliberate disinformation that pose risks to national security or public safety.

The government describes NSOIT’s work as analysing publicly available information, including social-media activity, to identify attempts to manipulate the online information environment.

The Defending Democracy Taskforce also coordinates work across government, Parliament, intelligence agencies and police to protect the UK’s democratic system from foreign interference.

The new centre would provide a more centralised capability focused specifically on hostile information operations. The government has not yet published full details of its staffing, budget or how its responsibilities will overlap with existing bodies.

AI intensifies the threat

In his UN speech, Burnham linked the decision directly to advances in artificial intelligence.

Generative AI can produce convincing text, images, cloned voices and video quickly and at scale. Deepfakes can make fabricated statements or events appear authentic, potentially making information operations more difficult to identify.

Burnham said the Kremlin spends around £1.3 billion annually manipulating information.

“We’re talking about an insidious campaign that reaches into people’s homes and twists what they feel about their own country and community – creating a narrative of decline, stoking division and sowing despair,” he said.

The UK’s National Security Strategy identifies technology-enabled hybrid threats as a growing security challenge.

From detecting propaganda to disrupting it

The centre’s stated mission to detect, attribute and disrupt hostile information operations suggests the UK wants to go beyond monitoring and rebutting false information. It is not yet clear exactly what “disrupt” would involve.

Responses could include exposing coordinated foreign campaigns, sharing intelligence with allies and working with online platforms over accounts or material that breach their rules.

Existing NSOIT policy offers some indication of the boundaries. It analyses publicly available material rather than private communications. When it identifies content that may breach a social-media company’s policies, it can alert the platform, but the platform decides whether to remove it.

Whether the new centre will have broader powers remains unclear.

Protecting elections from foreign interference

Elections are likely to be among the centre’s most sensitive responsibilities.

Burnham told the UN that Britain has evidence Russia attempted to interfere in the 2019 general election.

“They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles. Forged the branding of 28 British organisations – including universities and the BBC,” he said. “They’ve amplified far-right narratives.”

Russia has denied allegations that it interferes in other countries’ democratic processes.

The government has already strengthened coordination between political parties, the Electoral Commission and security services over foreign interference. Its response to the Rycroft Review also called for online information threats to be more closely integrated into the UK’s wider national-security framework.

A new front in UK national security: building trust through information security

The National Centre for Information Defence reflects an evolution of how the UK approaches national security.

Protecting the country increasingly goes beyond defending borders, infrastructure and computer networks to identifying attempts by hostile states to manipulate the information people see and trust.

Existing government structures distinguish between inaccurate or misleading information and disinformation deliberately created to cause harm. NSOIT’s work is limited to threats affecting public safety or national security. The remit and safeguards governing the new centre have yet to be announced.

For now, it is clear that the UK intends to treat coordinated foreign information operations as security threats that can be detected, attributed and disrupted to build trust rather than merely rebutted after they spread and do harm.