By Deborah Etheridge, PR Strategy Director.
Working in fintech PR, we constantly hear things being described as “as a Service”; Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). You name it, we acronym it. These terms help define how technology is revolutionising industries, delivering entirely new models of working and selling that deserve their own labels.
In PR, as in many industries, we’ve operated with a relatively stable playbook for a long time (or maybe I’m just getting old). The threats used to be obvious, and crisis comms, dare I say it, somewhat predictable. In the days of traditional media, you generally knew what could go wrong, where it would come from, and how to advise clients accordingly.
I remember, as a junior, supporting a client who got “doorstepped”, that old-school, high-pressure tactic where a journalist confronts someone in public, cameras rolling, demanding answers. It was intense, chaotic, and incredibly stressful for the client. But at least you knew who you were dealing with and what the playbook was.
Fast forward to today, a fully digital, multimedia world, and the rules have changed. New crises are emerging, and we’re learning in real time how to manage threats that look nothing like what came before. Among them, one of the most disturbing is the rise of Disinformation-as-a-Service (DaaS).
What is Disinformation-as-a-Service?
Disinformation-as-a-Service (DaaS) is a dark evolution of the “as a Service” model. These are professionalised, outsourced disinformation campaigns available for hire, often orchestrated by criminal networks, private contractors, or even state-sponsored actors. Just like a cloud service, they’re scalable, efficient, anonymised, and devastating.
These providers offer:
It’s industrialised information warfare and it’s accessible to anyone with enough money and motive.
A Grain of Truth, a Mountain of Damage
The reason these attacks are so effective is because they often start with a grain of truth. Recently, one of our clients, a fintech entrepreneur, was targeted by one of these campaigns.
They had a previous company that had failed, not uncommon in startup life. The business closed with some debt, which is public record. A disinformation campaign seized on that figure, using it to falsely label them a fraudster. Multiple articles sprang up across shady websites, all repeating the same narrative.
Worse still, the attack turned personal. Photos of their family, scraped from social media, were used in articles accusing their spouse of complicity. Holiday pictures were reframed as “evidence” of misused funds. The result? Total devastation. Investors got spooked. Fundraising was paused. Their reputation, personal and professional, was seriously harmed.
This wasn’t journalism. It was a weaponised smear campaign, engineered for maximum spread and damage.
How Do You Fight Back?
Fighting back is complex, expensive, and emotionally exhausting. False sites don’t follow journalistic ethics or legal standards. Often, you don’t even know where the attack is coming from.
DaaS attacks aren’t just a cyber threat, they’re a trust crisis. Which means your defence has
to blend technology, legal action, communications strategy, and psychological insight.
Here’s where to start:
And most importantly, know that these attacks rarely disappear overnight. Cutting off one head often means another pops up. This is the hydra-headed challenge of the modern digital PR landscape.
A New Era for PR
With new technology, new geopolitical tensions, and new tools for manipulation, the battle lines in PR and communications are being redrawn. We’re not just dealing with a changing media landscape, we’re dealing with a changed threat landscape.
Disinformation-as-a-Service is already here. The question is: are we ready to meet it?