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Misinformation Really Does Spread Like a Virus, Suggest Mathematical Models Drawn from Epidemiology
When it comes to misinformation, “going viral” appears to be more than a simple catchphrase. Scientists have found a close analogy between the spread of misinformation and the spread of viruses: how misinformation gets around can be effectively described using mathematical models designed to simulate the spread of pathogens.
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Suspected Chinese Hack of U.S. Telecoms Reveals Broader Plot
A hack of U.S. telecommunications systems linked to China that initially appeared to focus on the American presidential campaigns goes much deeper, according to investigators, and is likely part of a vast effort by Beijing to spy on the United States.
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University of Central Florida Students Secure Gold at the DOE’s 10th CyberForce Competition
Students gained hands-on practical cybersecurity experience and recognition by securing a wind energy generation plant against simulated cyberattacks.
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EFF to Court: Reject X’s Effort to Revive a Speech-Chilling Lawsuit Against a Nonprofit
X’s lawsuit against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate is intended to stifle criticism and punish the organization for its reports criticizing the platform’s content moderation practices, and a previous ruling dismissing the lawsuit should be affirmed.
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Russian Disinformation Campaign Creates 'Climate of Chaos,' Say Experts
In the last two years, Russian agents have created fake websites which are employed in a “persistent” disinformation campaign. The Russian agents are creating false news websites that mimic reputable sources and posting fake stories to those phony sites. The websites may look like trusted European media outlets but in fact mislead readers with malicious stories and propaganda.
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Exploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive Political Ads Thrived on Facebook and Instagram in Run-Up to Election
Eight deceptive advertising networks have placed over 160,000 election and social issues ads across more than 340 Facebook pages in English and Spanish. Some of the people who clicked on ads were unwittingly signed up for monthly credit card charges or lost health coverage, among other consequences.
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False Narratives Around the 2024 Presidential Election
False and misleading narratives about the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election are spreading widely among extremists and purveyors of hate and conspiracy theories.
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AI-driven Cyberattacks More Sophisticated and Scalable, but There Are Solutions
Cyberattacks used to be engineered by crafty hackers looking to infiltrate computer systems. Artificial intelligence now allows hackers to create a new scale of attacks that penetrate banking, critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and even traffic lights and baby monitors.
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U.S. Officials Say Russia Behind Fake Video of Pro-Trump Votes Being Destroyed
Russia, as part of its broad influence campaign to help Donald Trump win the November election, has released a fake video, which has been circulating on social media, purporting to show the destruction of mail-in votes cast for Trump in Pennsylvania. The fake video is the latest in a series of fake videos produced by an offshoot of the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, which helped Trump win the 2016 election.
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How Is the Kremlin Meddling In 2024 Elections? Here Are 5 Tactics.
Russia’s Plan A is always to cooperate with mainstream forces and then corrupt them to align with Russian foreign policy interests. In Plan A fails, Russia falls back on Plan B, which is aligning with far-right parties -– but, at times, even forming alliances with far-left parties. For the Kremlin, the cheapest and most efficient way of boosting its allies is to flood the market with disinformation.
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Voters: Here’s How to Spot AI “Deepfakes” That Spread Election-Related Misinformation
For years, people have spread misinformation by manipulating photos and videos with tools such as Adobe Photoshop. These fakes are easier to recognize, and they’re harder for bad actors to replicate on a large scale. Generative AI systems, however, enable users to create content quickly and easily. Domestic and foreign adversaries can use deepfakes and other forms of generative AI to spread false information about a politician’s platform or doctor their speeches.
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CyberForce Competition Challenges College Students to Use Cybersecurity Skills to Defend Their Wind Energy System
College teams will work to outsmart a simulated attack on a U.S. wind energy plant. The CyberForce Competition offers students hands-on experience, igniting their passion for cybersecurity.
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Social Media Platforms Aren’t Doing Enough to Stop Harmful AI Bots, Research Finds
While artificial intelligence (AI) bots can serve a legitimate purpose on social media — such as marketing or customer service — some are designed to manipulate public discussion, incite hate speech, spread misinformation or enact fraud and scams.
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To Make Children Better Fact-Checkers, Expose Them to More Misinformation — with Oversight
“We need to give children experience flexing these skepticism muscles and using these critical thinking skills within this online context,” a psychology researcher said.
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Salt Typhoon Hack Shows There's No Security Backdoor That's Only for The "Good Guys"
If U.S. policymakers care about China and other foreign countries engaging in espionage on U.S. citizens, it’s time to speak up in favor of encryption by default. If these policymakers don’t want to see bad actors take advantage of their constituents, domestic companies, or security agencies, again—they should speak up for encryption by default.
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The long view
Researchers Calculate Cyberattack Risk for All 50 States
Local governments are common victims of cyberattack, with economic damage often extending to the state and federal levels. Scholars aggregate threats to thousands of county governments to draw conclusions.