Cybersecurity Researchers Build a Better 'Canary Trap'

During World War II, British intelligence agents planted false documents on a corpse to fool Nazi Germany into preparing for an assault on Greece. "Operation Mincemeat" was a success, and covered the actual Allied invasion of Sicily. The "canary trap" technique in espionage spreads multiple versions of false documents to conceal a secret. Canary traps can be used to sniff out information leaks, or as in WWII, to create distractions that hide valuable information. WE-FORGE, a new data protection system designed in the Department of Computer Science, uses artificial intelligence to build on the canary trap concept.